The Fourth's World
by dripley11
Summary: ANBU report. Date: October 11. Casualties from Kyuubi assault: 67 Jounin, 89 Chuunin, 61 Genin, Civilian count unknown at this moment (Will be adjusted once count is finalized). Kyuubi assault has severely damaged Konoha's combat effectiveness. No greater loss than our previous Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi. If there has been any good, it is that Yondaime-sama has survived.
1. Chapter 1

**Pre-Story A/N:** This Chapter is the Kyuubi assault and what its changes. If you wish to better the reading experience by comparing my portrayal of it to Kishimoto's, then go and watch episodes 248 and 249 of Shippuden. I highly recommend it, as those episodes being fresh in your mind will help to set the tone of the Chapter better with a visual representation.

And now, The Fourth's World

* * *

**Chapter 1**

* * *

Minato slowly pushed himself up from the ground.

Because of his hasty retreat from the Masked Man's odd jutsu, he'd been forced to activate the Hiraishin(Flying Thunder God) on instinct with barely any time to think on which seal he'd teleport to.

_I missed_, the Yondaime recounted briefly of how his hand and kunai had passed through the Masked Man's head, almost like he'd briefly become intangible somehow. _But as soon as my hand passed through, he rematerialized and tried to drag me in instantly. Just what is that jutsu?_

Minato sucked in a surprised breath as he witnessed the air before him distort and begin to swirl. Out of the center of the swirling vortex the Masked Man suddenly appeared.

The Masked Man gave a small chuckle in amusement and his lone visible Sharingan closed halfway in a mocking gesture. "I won't let you get away," he spoke with a sense of superiority.

_So he uses some type of Teleportation ninjutsu as well,_ Minato observed calmly. Regardless of how this man had nearly killed Kushina and threatened Naruto's life as well, Minato knew that getting angry would only harm his chances for victory. The Yellow Flash pulled his tri-pronged kunai out from the ground in front of him as he continued to piece what little information he'd already gathered together. _Is that how he managed to move Kushina so far so quickly?_

_A shinobi who'd outmaneuvered the ANBU assigned directly under the Sandaime, who'd passed through a top-secret barrier, and who had known how the Kyuubi's seal would weaken during childbirth._ Minato gathered what the Masked Man had been able to do in an attempt to possibly piece together his opponent's identity. An image of the only shinobi in all of history to have ever held the Kyuubi under his control passed through the Hokage's mind. _Furthermore, he was able to remove the Kyuubi's seal, tame the biju, and was able to pass through the barrier set up around Konoha undetected._

_I know of only a single shinobi who'd have both the will and skill enough to accomplish such a feat within such a small time. _He continued to piece together what had been made clear and Minato was able to come up with a possible identity for his enemy. His blue eyes sharpened towards the foe before him and asked, "Are you Madara Uchiha?"

The Masked Man slowly reached up to his hood and removed it. The man's hair was the typical Uchiha black. However, Madara was known to have his hair grown lengthy and below the small of his back, while the Masked Man's was cut short.

"No," Minato amended. "That would be impossible. He's dead."

The Masked Man cocked his head to the side lazily and answered in a disinterested tone, "I wonder about that."

"At this point," the Hokage told him, "it doesn't matter who you are. But why are you attacking Konoha?"

The enemy tilted his head back and continued to answer disinterestedly, "I could say that I did it on a whim, or that I planned it, or that it's war, or that it's for peace." As soon as he'd finished, a thick, lengthy chain fell out of the Masked Man's left cloak sleeve.

Minato's cerulean eyes sharpened further as he realized that a battle was truly unavoidable with this man. _Whatever the case is, he's no ordinary man,_ he observed as he brought his specially-made kunai up and readied himself for the death match that was approaching. _This man can control the Kyuubi and his Teleportation Jutsu surpasses both Nidaime-sama's and mine. And he also has some dangerous ideals. I have to deal with him now, or he'll be even more trouble than the Kyuubi._

The Masked Man took the clamps on the ends of the length of chain and attached them to both of his wrists. He then rolled his wrists to check his blood flow.

_If I go to the village right now and assist, _Minato continued to plan, _he will follow and the battlefield will become even more chaotic. _A breeze blew across the small clearing, fluttering both combatants' cloaks about them. _If he's anything like Madara, then I can't allow him to keep the Kyuubi under his Kuchiyose for long. It seems I will have to just trust Sandaime-sama in protecting the village for the time being. I _must_ defeat this man here, before he can do anything more._

"Now that I have finally freed the Kyuubi, you people have no hope left!" the Masked Man exclaimed as he began to charge at Minato.

The Yondaime sprinted towards his opponent. As they neared each other Minato extended his arm, fully intent on piercing his opponent with his kunai.

However, Minato watched as his kunai sunk into his opponent, yet seemed to meet nothing. Minato then followed his kunai as he passed through the Masked Man without seemingly harming him in the slightest. Minato then ran into the chain trailing behind his enemy.

The chain then tightened and Minato felt the metal links dig into his flak jacket. Realizing that he'd indirectly been trapped, he activated the Hiraishin and teleported to the kunai at the edge of the clearing, away from the Masked Man.

_My physical attacks have no effect on him,_ Minato analyzed further,_ but he materializes again to attack me. Which means I can only land an attack when we both strike blows. That means that the risk of his jutsu is during the moment just before his attack. And considering the amount of chakra it takes to maintain the Summoning over the Kyuubi, he shouldn't desire a very long battle either. This means that the one that attacks an instant quicker than the other will be the victor!_

Minato turned around and sprinted towards his opponent, already having an idea on how to defeat the Masked Man. The enemy sprinted forward to reengage in response.

As they neared, Minato flung his kunai towards the enemy, and it sunk in just as expected.

Time seemed to slow as each opponent grew closer to one another. The kunai continued to inch through the Masked Man's skull. The Masked Man's hand crept up to grab Minato.

The kunai successfully passed completely through just before the enemy could grab Minato.

As soon as the kunai went through, Minato formed a Rasengan (Spiraling Sphere) in his right hand. The bright ball of swirling chakra then slowly approached the Masked Man's chest, but Minato had acted just an instant too late. Just before he was grabbed, the blue-eyed Hokage heard, "I win."

Minato acted.

The Yellow Flash lived up to his name and activated his recently-developed technique and disappeared. He grabbed the kunai he'd just thrown, turned in the air, and successfully drilled his opponent in the center of his back with the Rasengan.

Feeling indulgent, Minato informed his enemy, "That was my Hiraishin: Level Two." The force of the Rasengan continued to push the Masked Man further into the ground as dirt and rocks flew away due to the force of the Yondaime's personal jutsu.

Minato removed his hand as the Rasengan dissipated in his hand, but not before successfully marking the Masked Man with a Hiraishin Formula Seal. As Minato jumped away, smoke from the dust and dirt raised to form a thick cloud over the entire clearing.

The blue-eyed man watched as the enemy Sharingan-wielder leapt out of the smoke and came to rest on a newly-raised rock. The cloaked figure was breathing heavily as he clutched his left arm. Minato watched with a cold gaze as a type of white ooze, not blood, came out from his left sleeve and the enemy's left hand just fell off of his arm in a gooey mess.

Minato immediately activated the newest Hiraishin Seal and stabbed his opponent with one of his kunai. Those blue eyes were cold as ice as he laid his right hand on the Masked Man's chest. The fuuinjutsu master then activated the Keiyaku Fuin (Contract Seal) to remove the control over the Kyuubi.

The Masked Man seemed to actually panic a little as he realized, "Keiyaku Fuin! You intend to separate the Kyuubi from me?"

"With this," Minato stated coolly," the Kyuubi no longer belongs to you."

The Masked Man jumped away again and his posture seemed to calm back down. "I must hand it to the Yondaime Hokage," he congratulated Minato. "You managed to seriously wound me, as well as cancelling out my control over the Kyuubi. However," he added ominously, "the Kyuubi will be mine eventually. I am going to rule the world," he stated with certainty as he activated his odd jutsu and began to seemingly swirl into his Sharingan, "and there are so many ways to go about doing it," he finished as the Masked Man retreated and disappeared.

_That tone,_ Minato realized. _He's not just boasting. He truly believes it._

* * *

Hiruzen Sarutobi had been enjoying his semi-retirement after allowing Minato to take over as Hokage. He'd finally had time to spend with his family and – most importantly – his wife.

He'd led Konoha through the end of one war after Tobirama-sensei sacrificed himself and two other wars from start to finish. During that time, people had bestowed upon him two titles.

The Professor he agreed with; it fit him. He was no longer the shinobi he had been in his youth, but he was adept at nearly all of the Jutsu of Konoha. Aside from the Kekkei Genkai-required techniques and Minato's private creations, he could use each Konoha Jutsu as well as any other.

Any time someone called him the Kami no Shinobi, however, he wanted to completely rebuff the name. Hiruzen was a powerful shinobi, he was well-aware of his own strength, but there were two shinobi he knew of who were both more powerful than he, and both had been Hokage. In his eye, there has only, and only ever shall be, one Kami no Shinobi, and it was Hashirama Senju: The Shodaime Hokage and a Founder of Konoha.

Night had fallen in Konoha and he was – hopefully – performing this grueling experience for the last time in his life: paperwork. As Minato was needed to help preserve Kushina's Seal during her childbirth, Hiruzen had 'volunteered' under Biwako's _suggestion_ to take care of the paperwork for Minato.

Minato had said it best. "A Hokage is the most powerful shinobi in Konoha. But their wives are the only creatures capable of making them cower in fear of their wrath."

The aging shinobi sighed tiredly as he set the final piece of paper in the 'Out' pile. He then leaned back in his chair and gazed out of the window.

"The moon's beautiful tonight," he said softly as he witnessed the full moon. "I hope nothing goes wrong."

One of the many lessons that both Senju brothers beat into him as a young student replayed itself in Hiruzen's head. Hashirama would always start it by saying, "Hope for the best," and then Tobirama would finish it with, "But prepare for the worst."

And that was what Hiruzen had done. As a shinobi, he knew that he couldn't rely on hope. Nothing would be done unless you would be willing to do it yourself.

The Sandaime had placed all active ANBU for the night on the highest alert possible. All he'd explained was that there was a possibility of an attack on Konoha tonight from a foe with overwhelming power, and ANBU immediately sprung into action. Although the Third Great Shinobi War was officially over a year ago, tensions were still very high between the Hidden Villages and conflicts and skirmishes still occurred with regularity.

A slight disturbance in the air prompted Hiruzen to use his sensory abilities to search out the cause.

"It can't be," Hiruzen gasped as he felt the disturbance's chakra signature.

The Sandaime immediately activated a Shunshin (Body Flicker) and flew away from the office and landed in the room where he kept his battle armor. As he began to don his armor, a piercing roar split the night that sent shivers down his back.

The Kyuubi was released.

An ANBU immediately appeared next to him as he finished strapping on his armor. "Sandaime-sama," the shinobi reported. "It's the Kyuubi."

"I'm aware of that," he answered. "I will suppress it. Have all ANBU, Jounin, and Chuunin above the age of twenty-five come to assist in suppressing the Kyuubi. All Genin are to assist in the evacuation of the civilians as if it were an invasion."

"What about those below the age of twenty-five?" the ANBU asked.

"Follow Evacuation Plan C-2."

"Roger that!" The ANBU then left to follow through on the Sandaime's orders.

As Hiruzen left the Hokage Tower, he couldn't help but think,_ The Kyuubi's escaped. That must mean that all of the preparations we took were a failure. The fact that no report came from the ANBU protecting the birthing can only mean one thing._ A single tear escaped the aging shinobi's eyes as he pictured is now-late wife, _Biwako._

Hiruzen immediately arrived atop a building where a group of masked ANBU were relaying orders. Upon his arrival, the lead ANBU called, "Sandaime-sama!"

"Status report!" the former commander ordered.

"Hai!" the same ANBU began. "Kyuubi's presence is confirmed and containment is being carried out per your orders. The Genin are assisting in the evacuation plan. All other active shinobi are helping to suppress the Kyuubi aside from those involved in Evacuation Plan C-2."

"Casualties?"

"Fifteen Jounin," the ANBU reported. "Another twenty are critically wounded and are receiving immediate care, but it is unsure if many will survive. Four Genin and thirteen Chuunin have fallen as well. Three ANBUs have left us."

_It could be worse,_ Hiruzen thought darkly. He then asked, "Civilians?"

The ANBU shook his masked head. "Unsure of. Estimated at over two-hundred at the moment."

_Where are you Minato?_

Just then the Professor felt the Yondaime's Chakra appear on the Hokage Monument.

"Order all forces to temporarily cease their assault on the Kyuubi!" Hiruzen ordered. _Minato… What is happening?_

The Kyuubi then turned towards the Hokage Monument and glared at it. The giant fox then opened its mouth and a multitude of colored chakra began to gather and formed a spherical mass that was dark-purple in color.

"A bijudama (Tailed Beast Bomb)," the ANBU around Hiruzen gasped in recognition.

Hiruzen's face went stony as he felt the sheer power the Kyuubi's bijudama held. _If that had been directed this way, all of Konoha would've been obliterated._

The gigantic fox then blasted its attack towards the Hokage Monument and Minato. The Sandaime then saw a complicated sealing array appear just as the concentrated mass of chakra made contact with the monument and then seem to sink into the air.

"That's the Jikuken Kekkai (Space-Time Barrier)!" a random shinobi exclaimed in recognition as an explosion racked the landscape in the distance. "Yondaime-sama has arrived!"

A roar of victory chorused from the gathered shinobi as the presence of the Yellow Flash was confirmed by his jutsu. Hiruzen then allowed a small smile before he quickly went back to the stone-faced commander.

The Sandaime then felt a cold sweat form as the Kyuubi let out another ear-splitting roar and he felt Minato's Chakra disappear. _Minato?_ He wondered briefly. _What happened?_

"Where'd Yondaime go?" one of the sensory Jounin asked once Minato had left. This question seemed to deflate the gathered shinobi as they felt their hope disappear.

Hiruzen, however, immediately returned to barking out orders. "We need to push the Kyuubi away from the village!" he roared. "Do not despair! Reengage and defeat the Kyuubi!"

The Konoha shinobi around him then let out a chorus of cries of affirmation and courage. They all then returned to occupying the Kyuubi's attention in an attempt to minimize the destruction the biju would cause.

"I need you to buy me a few moments," the Sandaime informed the ANBU around him. "I need to prepare my jutsu to push the Kyuubi out of Konoha."

The ANBU surrounding him all chorused in acceptance of their orders before going off to engage the Kyuubi.

Hiruzen used the precious moments the ANBU gained him to gather the required chakra for his next jutsu. He then bit his thumb hard enough to draw blood for the required sacrifice and went through the required hand seals. The Monkey Summoner then called out as he slammed his palm to the ground, "Ninpo: Kuchiyose (Ninja Art: Summoning). Enkoou Enma (Monkey King Enma)!"

Immediately a gigantic cloud of white smoke appeared and covered the entire roof of the building. The smoke slowly dissipated to show the imposing figure of Hiruzen's personal summon and old friend, Enma.

"The Kyuubi, huh?" Enma spoke as the smoke was blown away. "So the seal was broken?"

Trusting in his old friend's abilities, Hiruzen said, "We're going to push it out of the village with the Adamantine Staff."

"Got it," Enma accepted. "Henge (Transform)!"

Smoke erupted around where the Monkey King had just been standing. A large black staff with each of its ends silver in color then flew out of the smoke and towards its wielder.

Hiruzen then grabbed his new staff, spun it around his body, and rested it beneath his right arm. "Let's go, Enma!" he roared.

A single eye appeared on the staff and the Monkey King's voice came from the staff, "Right!"

The Sandaime then pointed the Adamantine Staff towards the gigantic red mass of the Kyuubi and extended his arm as he called out, "Extend!"

The large staff then grew in length until it collided with the large form of the monstrous beast. The thick staff then drew in more strength from Hiruzen's ample Chakra reserves and managed to slowly push the Kyuubi outside of Konoha's walls. Homes, streets, trees, and many other constructs were completely leveled by the Kyuubi's size as it was forced back.

"I've pushed it out of the village!" Hiruzen exclaimed as Enma's staff form retracted to its normal size. "Don't let up! Keep at him! Don't allow it to even think!"

All of the Konoha shinobi present let out a collective roar in victory once more as they rushed out of the village to reengage the gigantic fox.

Only one thought worried Hiruzen at the moment though. _Minato,_ he wondered as the Kyuubi took another swipe with his claw at the shinobi who attempted to steal his attention. _Where are you?_

The Kyuubi's roar shattered the night again as its huge tails continued to level the surrounding landscape and take down any shinobi who attempted to sneak up behind the humongous beast.

"Continue the attack!" Hiruzen barked as the Kyuubi batted the Adamantine Staff aside from an attempt to push it further away from Konoha. "Keep the Kyuubi occupied until Minato can arrive!"

A feeling of deep helplessness crawled up the Sandaime's spine as he watched the Kyuubi begin to gather more chakra for another bijudama.

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" cried a familiar voice from above them.

Hiruzen looked up into the sky and saw a familiar red mass falling down.

Gamabunta crashed atop the Kyuubi and pinned it beneath him. The Kyuubi continued to gather more chakra as it squirmed beneath the gigantic Toad Boss Summon.

A sense of relief coursed through him as Hiruzen spied Minato standing atop Gamabunta.

However, the sense of relief was short lived and was replaced by one of utter dread as he noticed the downtrodden look on the Yondaime's face. Hiruzen immediately realized his intentions as Minato yelled something to his Summon which Hiruzen didn't catch.

The Sandaime had only one thought in his head as he threw Enma's staff-form aside and rushed forward at the Kyuubi's form unarmed.

_I can't let him do it._

Hiruzen didn't hear the shinobi's cries around him for him to stop. He leapt forward and managed to enclose his hand over a small tuft of red fur as the Kyuubi's mouth enclosed over the newly-constructed bijudama. The student of both Senju Hokage before him then felt an unfamiliar sense of being pulled before he vanished with Minato and the Kyuubi.

* * *

Minato teleported the Kyuubi to the clearing he'd just left with, Kushina and Naruto in his arms.

The blue-eyed man gasped for air from his exertion over the past hour and how near-chakra exhaustion he really was. "I have to put up a barrier immediately," he rasped as he winced from the pain that just moving caused him. _Damn it. I'm almost out of chakra._

Kushina's pained voice then reached his ears. "I can still do it, Minato," she told him.

The red-haired kunoichi then bit her lip as she manifested her Chakra Chains. The chains dug into the ground and erected a barrier around the clearing while simultaneously restraining the Kyuubi.

"Kushina!" Minato called out in worry as his wife whimpered in pain from exerting herself so soon after giving birth and having the Kyuubi forcibly removed from her.

The babe wrapped in the Hokage's arms began to wail for the first time since Minato had saved him from the Masked Man's clutches.

Kushina continued to breath heavily as she leaned up and said to her recently-born son softly, "Did I wake you up? I'm sorry, Naruto. Mommy didn't mean to."

Minato's cerulean eyes widened in shock as he realized his wife's intentions. "Kushina…" he trailed off weakly.

Her indigo eyes were filled with the strength that sent enemy shinobi running and her love for the two males in her life next to her. "I'm going to draw the Kyuubi with me to my death," she informed her husband and Hokage. "This way we can delay the Kyuubi's revival for a little while, at least.

"I'll be able to save everyone with what little chakra I have left. Thank you for everything you've done for me, Minato," she said with a smile that communicated her truly heartfelt gratitude towards him.

Minato sucked in a sharp breath and he heard Naruto begin to sniffle. He looked down at his son and realized that his son was beginning to tear up. Even as an infant, Naruto seemed to sense what was about to happen.

"Kushina," her husband managed to say. "It's because of you that I'm the Fourth Hokage. It's because you made me a man!" Minato paused briefly as he felt his emotions begin to well over. "And yet…" he trailed off as his voice began to crack from sadness.

Kushina just gave him one of those smiles that _always _seemed to make his heart skip a beat and said, "Minato, don't give me that look. I'm so happy that you loved me. And today… is our child's birthday," she reminded him as Naruto had quieted down again.

"If I were to imagine me alive," she continued on, "and our future with the three of us living together as a family… I can't see us having anything other than a happy life." Minato felt a single tear finally fall from his left eye before his wife said, "If I were allowed just one regret, it would be that I won't be able to see Naruto grow up. How much I wish I could have seen that."

While his wife was coming to terms with her death Minato's idea finalized in his head. He was absolutely determined to see her only wish granted, and he _would_ see it happen.

"Kushina," he finally spoke up after he managed to calm himself again, "there is no need for you to die with the Kyuubi. Preserve what little chakra you have left for a reunion with your son." Kushina looked at him in confusion as he wiped his lone tear from his face with his blue sleeve. "I'll seal all of your remaining chakra within Naruto. Then I'll take the Kyuubi with me with the only Fuuinjutsu that'll work since I'm not already a Jinchuuriki, the –"

"Shiki Fujin (Dead Demon Consuming Seal/Reaper Death Seal)!" came a roar from a voice Minato didn't expect to hear.

Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped out from behind one of the Kyuubi's large legs with his hands clapped together and a determined look on his face. He looked prepared to die.

"S-Sandaime-sama?" Kushina gasped in shock.

"H-How?" was all Minato could manage to say. He was certain that his Hiraishin had only taken the Kyuubi with him from the battlefield.

"I apologize for concealing myself," the previous Hokage said to them, "but I believed it rude if I interrupted such a tender moment."

"Did… Did you just…?" the lone kunoichi present trailed off.

Hiruzen answered them with a stony nod. "I did," he told them.

"But…" Minato began. "Why?" he finally asked.

"I realized your intentions when I saw how sad you looked, Minato," Hiruzen answered kindly. "I couldn't stand to see someone with such a bright future perish the way you were about to. I will be the one to seal the Kyuubi within little Naruto."

"But Sandaime-sama," the Yondaime protested, "it's my responsibility!"

"No it isn't," his predecessor told him sharply. "I am old, far too old to go back to being Hokage. Your responsibility is to live on. You are to live on and become the father and Hokage that you were meant to be."

"But –"

"Minato," Kushina interrupted softly. "There's nothing to be done now. Sandaime-sama has already called the Shinigami, and you and I both know what that means – as does he."

Minato's gaze fell as he resigned himself to what was about to happen. Now that Hiruzen had called the Shinigami, his soul was forfeit. "I'm so sorry, Sandaime-sama," he apologized sincerely. "Because of my failures you've had to call on the Shiki Fujin yourself, and I am at fault for you having lost your love."

"You have nothing to apologize for," the older man replied with a sad smile. "I know you did all you could – you would never do anything less. That is why I am certain that you'll be an amazing Hokage, capable of leading Konoha into a new age."

"I am unworthy of your praise," the Yondaime bowed in respect to the man who chose him to be Hokage.

"Nonsense," Hiruzen answered with a small wave of his hand. "But we need to decide on what to do with the Kyuubi. I know you mentioned the Eight Trigrams – is that the seal we'll use on Naruto?"

An idea appeared in Minato's head. It was crazy, but it could work. The more he thought about it though, the better it seemed. Kushina wouldn't last for much longer with her body exerting itself so much so soon after giving birth, and _that_ thought sealed it for him. He cast aside all doubt in his mind then.

_This, will work,_ Minato told himself. He then answered Hiruzen, "Yes and no." The fuuinjutsu master then proposed his new idea to them both, and Kushina and Hiruzen were stunned at the plan.

"That's…" Hiruzen finally found his voice after a few moments of stunned silence. "That might just be crazy enough to work. I honestly would've expected such a plan from someone like Jiraiya, not you. Are you _sure _of this Minato?"

"It should work in theory," he answered confidently. Minato then turned to his wife and asked, "Can _you_ do it?"

"I… I don't know if what you're saying is possible Minato," Kushina answered him hesitantly. "My mother always told me that the Eight Trigrams Style was the most complex, but this…"

"If this works," her husband told her, "then you'll always be with Naruto. It'll mean you can't interact with him directly for a time, but once what is needed happens you'll be just as much a part of his life as me."

"I'll do it," she answered after a few moments of hesitation. "I'll have faith in you, Minato."

"I will begin the preparations then," Minato said. He then summoned the required Sealing Altar and made the appropriate changes to the seal's design. Minato created the key for the seal that was about to be made before summoning Gerotora and sending the key-holding toad back to Mount Myouboku with the key for safe-keeping until Minato or Jiraiya called him back. Minato then placed the soon-to-be Jinchuuriki infant atop the Altar and retreated away from his son so as to not interfere with the revised Sealing. Everything had to be perfect.

"Are you ready, Minato?" Hiruzen asked him as he stepped away from the Altar.

"**I'll not be sealed again**!" roared a resounding voice from behind everyone. The Kyuubi attempted to take advantage of everyone's distraction and Kushina's slowly-depleting strength from maintaining her Chains for so long and kill Naruto before he could be sealed.

Minato and Kushina both moved to protect Naruto as soon as the beast acted. Each parent dove in front of the gigantic claw simultaneously. As Minato braced himself to be skewered from behind, he felt an odd sensation travel over his entire body.

A sound of flesh being pierced and blood spurting from bodies reached his ears, as well as two pained grunts, but the Yondaime felt no pain himself.

Minato slowly opened his eyes and he was greeted by a site that would forever remain ingrained in his memories.

There, with their midsections completely run through by the Kyuubi's talon, were both Kushina and Hiruzen. Both of their bloods mixed together and trailed down the claw until it dripped off of the point.

"Sandaime-sama," Minato gasped as he realized what had happened. "Why?"

"I told you when I appointed you, Minato," Hiruzen shakily answered, "that if you ever forced me out of retirement that I would never forgive you."

"Minato," Kushina called over to her love while she dug her heels into the ground even further to keep the Kyuubi's talon from moving any further towards her son.

"Yes, Kushina," Minato answered her.

"Take care of Naruto," she told him with a sad smile. "Be a good father – remember that I'll be watching. Don't let Naruto grow up alone. Do you remember what I told you that Mito-sama told me about being the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki?"

"I do," Minato said to the only woman he would ever love.

"It is possible for a Jinchuuriki to have a good life," Kushina recited her mantra since being made the second Jinchuuriki of the gigantic fox behind her. "You just have to fill the vessel with love. If you can do that, then the Jinchuuriki will be able to live well. You have to do that now. Don't let our son experience the normal life of a Jinchuuriki. Please don't let our child be alone. Let Naruto become a great man."

"I will," he promised his love resolutely, tears threatening to leak from his eyes. "I swear to you that our son will be loved. I won't let this chance go to waste." He then directed towards the man who'd taught his own sensei and said, "Thank you, Sandaime-sama, for allowing me to raise my son."

Hiruzen simply allowed a small, pained smile and a simple nod to accept Minato's gratitude.

"Naruto," Kushina began to speak to her quiet son lying upon the Sealing Altar, "you are the sun of my life. Beware of Jiraiya, he's nothing but a bad influence. Be kind to your father; I know that he may not always be the best, but know that he loves you with all his heart.

"I need you to promise me something: I want you to promise me that you'll always stay just who you are – never change for anyone." At this, the blonde infant yawned and let out a single giggle. Kushina smiled as she continued, "Grow up and find someone to love, like your father and I did.

"Make sure that you eat your vegetables, don't just eat ramen like your father over there. You know, he'd have never gotten away from it at all if I hadn't forced him to actually try something on our first date after he made Jounin. I told him, 'If you order ramen one more time then I'll force-feed you one of those kunai you're so damn proud of.'" As she recalled her many loving moments with her husband, Kushina allowed herself a small chuckle. "Your father really will be lost without me. I want you to keep him straight – we all know Jiraiya won't.

"Naruto, I love you more than life itself. If you don't remember anything else about me, just know that."

Minato couldn't fight it anymore; tears fell from his chin like raindrops. "I love you, Kushina," he choked out.

"And I love you, Minato, dattebane," she answered weakly as she smiled one of her beautiful smiles, blood dripping from her mouth.

Hiruzen then looked back to Minato, his Shiki Fujin still looming over him and ready to finish the seal. He then asked, "Are you ready to face the world as the Yondaime Hokage, Minato-kun?"

Minato wiped his tears on his sleeve and then stared at his predecessor with a fierce fire burning within his cerulean eyes. He then spoke, determination coating his words, "The world isn't ready for me!"

Hiruzen merely gave his successor a pained smile. "I'm glad I can leave Konoha in your hands then," he answered. He then looked up into the sky with a wistful expression on his face and said, "I only wish I would be able to join Biwako, but alas, the life of shinobi is that of sacrifice."

Minato walked over to his love and kissed her, one more time. "You _will_ get to meet your son," he swore to her. "I promise. A lifetime with a father is nothing compared to just five minutes of a mother's love. I love you, my Hot-Blooded Habanero."

Hiruzen then called out from behind the red-haired woman, "Fuin!"

As the seal began to finish, Kushina's indigo eyes found Minato cerulean ones one last time, and Kushina Uzumaki Namikaze spoke her last words. "And I love you, my little…yellow…loser."

* * *

**A/N:** And the Naruto story I promised all of my readers months ago has finally taken off! It isn't going to be easy, but I've figured out what I'm going to be doing with the story as a whole at long last.

To those of you who've read the little preview I offered in my Code Geass story, _Once More, with Feeling_: yes, there are some changes between the preview and this. The main reason for that is the change in plans for the story as a whole. Some of them also just seemed to fit better in different places.

I guess i can inform all of you about the immediate plans for the story. Naruto won't become the MAIN protagonist that I'll follow until around Chapter 12-15 unless something changes. For now, Minato will be the main protagonist until Naruto's graduation to Genin. You'll see how Minato deals with the Hyuuga incident, the Council regarding Naruto's Jinchuuriki status, the Suna alliance, the Uchiha _incident_, as well as a bunch of other little bits and pieces I've planned.

I won't be announcing the pairings for a few chapters, as I'm unsure of a few of them at the moment. You are welcome to submit some who you think would be good. All I ask is that you avoid the overused ones: NaruHina and NaruSaku. I have nothing against either pair - personally I like NaruHina but it's not my favorite. I also don't mind NaruSaku if Sakura is actually portrayed well in the story (No going from beating Naruto's skull one day and calling him an idiot to suddenly falling in love with him the next.). Also, no Slash. I have nothing against yaoi, but I just don't write it. Also don't bother with a Minato pairing, I've got that one set in stone and refuse to budge on it.

Also, just so all of you Sasuke-haters can find this out now, instead of later: I will not engage in _bashing._ I have always thought that bashing a character just completely takes away the complexities of the character. I don't care who it is: Sasuke, Sakura, Kiba, etc... I _absolutely abhor and refuse to ever partake in bashing._ It destroys the story if you make it a selling point or repeatedly engage in the terrible practice.

Now that I've said that, let me amend by saying that I don't really like Kishimoto's portrayal of Sasuke. He utterly betrays Konoha, sticks a Chidori in Naruto's chest, spends three years as Konoha's greatest traitor since Madara Uchiha's personal apprentice, and Naruto will probably just let him back into Konoha with a small "Don't do it again." In my mind, Sasuke still hasn't, and will _never_ be able to make adequate amends enough to allow him back to Konoha. However, I will never pervert my story with my personal desires and unhappiness with canon.

Now that that's out of the way, I hope you enjoy the fic. It will be following Minato's experiences as the Yondaime Hokage as the set-up for the meat of the story. Naruto _will be_ the main protagonist, but patience is required.

Later, and enjoy.

dripley11


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

* * *

The Yondaime walked over to the sealing altar and gently picked up his now-waiting son in his arms.

Minato gently rocked his child in his arms as he finally took notice of the new sealing array on Naruto's stomach. _I can't believe it worked,_ he thought to himself as the infant slowly began to quiet down again.

"Hokage-sama!" a voice yelled to him.

Minato turned around and faced the source of the call after wrapping Naruto in a cloth to protect his child from the cold. The Hokage noticed a gathering of around twenty ANBU-class shinobi around the edge of the clearing. "Yes, Anbu-san?" he eventually answered, forcing his emotions back down.

"Are you okay?" an ANBU with a beige cloak asked.

"I'm fine."

"What of the Kyuubi?"

The tension that in the silence that came upon the clearing after the ANBU's question was so thick that it could be cut with a dull kunai. All of the ANBU present were undoubtedly waiting for an answer that they already must've thought of, as ANBU in Konoha were all capable in the shinobi arts and were fairly intelligent.

Minato's cerulean eyes flickered to his slumbering child before carefully answering, "Taken care of. And no one present is to inform anyone of what you all must suspect. I will be declaring this information an S-Class secret soon. All you need to do is inform all of the forces that the Kyuubi is no longer a threat to Konoha. Also, summon the entire Council – all three factions."

"Roger that!" each ANBU accepted their new orders. All aside from the one with the beige cloak then left the clearing to carry out their new instructions.

"I could tell you wished to speak, Hokage-sama," the unofficial Head of ANBU answered the unasked question.

"I did," Minato nodded to the ANBU. "Before I go to the Council, I wish to know something."

"Anything you ask I shall provide if possible."

"Where were the Uchihas during the Kyuubi assault?" Minato asked.

The masked ANBU took a minute to think before he answered truthfully, "I don't know, Hokage-sama. Aside from the few within ANBU, I saw perhaps one or two attempting to engage the Kyuubi. If you wish, I shall gather the intelligence you have just asked for."

"Do so quickly," the Hokage ordered sternly. "I wish to know as soon as possible."

"Very well," the ANBU acknowledged his new orders with a bow of his head.

"And also," Minato added, "send a team to collect Sandaime-sama's body. We shall offer him the proper burial in a few days, when all this has finally calmed down."

"Of course." The beige-cloaked man then disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Minato looked down at his peacefully sleeping, whiskered child and his eyes softened. The babe really was his and Kushina's. Even though Naruto inherited his eyes and hair from his father, Kushina could already be seen in him. Naruto'd gotten her cheekbones and nose, and Minato suspected that there was definitely going to more of Kushina in his personality than there would be of him.

These thoughts brought a small smile to the new father's face as he felt a little water well up in the corner of his eyes. Minato wiped his eyes on his sleeve and asked his son affectionately, "Are you ready to go? You and Daddy have to deal with a bunch of power-hungry idiots, but don't you worry. I won't let anyone try to hurt you. I promise you, Naruto, that I'll always be the best father I can be."

Naruto remained sleeping and quiet, so Minato activated the Hiraishin and teleported both himself and Naruto outside the Council Chamber's main entranceway. As he arrived, he noticed the presence of the ANBU he'd just sent to find out about the Uchihas.

"Hokage-sama," the masked man greeted respectfully, "I have uncovered what it was you wished to know."

"Very well," Minato told him. "Report."

"Most of the shinobi in the Uchiha were away from Konoha at the time of the Kyuubi attack," the man reported dutifully. "It would appear that Fugaku-san proposed a Clan training operation three hours before the Kyuubi arrived in Konoha. The only active shinobi from the Uchiha who engaged the Kyuubi were those who were left behind to perform their duties as the Military Police or were unaware of the training operation for some reason."

"Thank you, Anbu-san," the Hokage professed with a respectful nod. The masked man then disappeared in a swirl of leaves again. Minato stood there for a few minutes and thought about this new information.

_Three hours,_ he pondered. _Just enough time to gather the Uchiha Compound and retreat to a safe distance from Konoha. It's just too convenient. Could Fugaku be in league with the Masked Man who indirectly admitted to being Madara Uchiha?_

_Unlikely,_ he told himself. _As the ANBU just reported, only the active duty shinobi were away from the village. This means that all of the retired shinobi, the civilians, and the children of the Uchiha Clan would still have been within Konoha when the Kyuubi was unleashed. I remember Kushina telling me that Mikoto was expecting recently, and Fugaku is not that cold-hearted._

_As unlikely as it is though,_ Minato continued to think,_ that Masked Man was in possession of a Sharingan. What's more is that his Sharingan did more than allow him to copy my moves. It seemed to be the focus for his teleportation jutsu, and it might even be possible that it is how he was able to become intangible. If he is Madara, then he and Fugaku are closely related as well. And 'blood is always thicker' as they say._

_What I need more is more information. I need to know more about the Sharingan and its capabilities. I need to know more about the history of the Uchiha so that I can figure out if a countermeasure to this Masked Man's abilities already exist, and I need to know more about Madara Uchiha so that I can figure out why he left Konoha and ended up fighting the Shodaime at the Valley of the End._

Minato shook his head to shake those thoughts from his mind. _I can think on all of that later,_ he reminded himself. _Right now, I've got to put the Council to rest. If Shodaime-sama were still alive to see what has become of it now, I think that he'd probably disband it himself. I only wish I could do it._

He then took a few deep, calming breaths and steeled himself for the coming ordeal. The father instinctively pulled his son to his chest in what he knew would be a vain attempt at protecting Naruto from the parasites behind that door. He then pushed the door open with his unoccupied arm and walked into the Council Chamber.

The Council was made up of three separate factions, each with checks and balances over the others. The largest faction was the Civilian section that sat over forty civilians to Minato's left as he stepped in. The next-largest group was the Shinobi Clan section which consisted of the twenty-five Clan Heads of each Konoha shinobi clan seated to his right. The smallest was the group that sat directly ahead of him and that acted as the Hokage's voice in these meetings should the village's leader be unable to attend the weekly Council gatherings – the Advisors.

The Civilian faction of the Council was the largest, but they held absolutely no power over the Konoha military and shinobi forces. However, due mainly to how large Konoha had grown since its founding, they ran Konoha's economy. Ever since Hiruzen had allowed the Civilians control over the economic policies, though, Konoha's civilian and shinobi businesses had prospered. They were not autonomous, however, as the Hokage still held the final say in governmental functions like taxing. Minato had, so far, been rather pleased with the Civilian Representatives during his term as Hokage since the economy had remained stable and even been growing since the war ended.

The Clan Heads' role within the Council was to address their personal clan's concerns and to serve as a trickle-down between the Council's decisions and the general populace. The Clans present on the Council – in all – made up almost thirty-eight percent of the total population and fifty-three percent of the military strength of Konoha. All Clan Heads, aside from the Uchihas since they were the entirety of the Military Police, were allowed to vote on matters brought before the Council at-large.

The Advisors branch was only made up of five people – all former or active shinobi themselves – but it went without question that those five people held nearly half of the power within the chamber. The ANBU general and Jounin Commander were still handling the immediate fall-out from the Kyuubi attack so they weren't present for the meeting. Danzo Shimura and Hiruzen's old Genin teammates were the other three who sat amongst the Advisors. Each member of the Advisors faction held considerable sway over the Council, and it was this group that Minato worried about.

"Now that Hokage-sama has arrived," began Koharu Utatane, one of Hiruzen's old teammates, "let us begin."

Homura Mitokado then said, "Before anything else is discussed, we would like you to recount the Kyuubi assault, Minato."

"Very well," the Hokage accepted. He held his child close as he recounted the Kyuubi attack.

In order to divert attention away from the Masked Man and his personal suspicions, he claimed that Kushina's seal had broken during childbirth and that the Kyuubi escaped that way. Minato gave the Council a basic run-down of what happened without giving any unnecessary information away in case of a traitor's presence within the chamber.

Once he finished with how he'd taken the Kyuubi from the battlefield, Danzo spoke up and asked, "What of the Kyuubi?"

Minato grit his teeth before answering. "I uncovered that it was being controlled by a powerful shinobi after breaking its seal. Whoever it was I was unable to confront."

"That's impossible!" Tsume Inuzuka exclaimed in disbelief from her seat with the Clan Heads. She'd been the official Head ever since her husband had perished three months ago in a skirmish with Kumo. "No one has the ability to hold such a creature under their control!"

"Actually," Shikaku Nara spoke up from his seat next to her. "There has been someone who was able to control the Kyuubi before. Madara Uchiha."

"Just what are you insinuating, Nara?" Fugaku Uchiha spoke up as the Council broke out in suspicious murmuring about the Uchiha once they'd heard the name of Konoha's greatest traitor.

The lazy Clan Head shrugged. "Nothing," he answered. "I just found it odd how your clan was suspiciously absent for the most part during the Kyuubi attack."

Fugaku bristled and began to stand form his seat as more murmurs were created at the new information. Minato should've figured that the lazy genius picked up on that. "Are you saying –"

"No one is implying anything Fugaku," Minato interrupted before the situation could escalate any further. "It was a curious circumstance, but that's all it was – a circumstance. I highly doubt you'd be cold-hearted enough to leave your son to defend himself against something like the Kyuubi."

The Uchiha Clan Head obviously didn't appreciate someone else helping him, but he sat back down after giving Minato a reluctant nod.

"Now then," Danzo's smooth voice carried in the chamber. "Minato. What has become of Sarutobi and the Kyuubi?"

The Yellow Flash's eyes briefly flickered to his son in his arm. He then answered sadly, "I'm afraid that Sandaime-sama gave his life to reseal the Kyuubi."

"Who?"

Danzo's question echoed in the quiet chamber. The tension created by the Root Commander's query was palpable. Even baby Naruto must've felt it, as the infant woke back up and began to cry again.

Minato's cerulean eyes went icy as he looked directly at the manipulative man and told them all, "This child. His name is Naruto Uzumaki, son of Kushina and the third Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi."

Immediately the Council Room erupted in shouts of gratitude from the Civilian side of how the Kyuubi was finally weak and they could get their revenge for their lost loved ones from the recent attack.

"It's vulnerable!"

"Thank you Yondaime-sama, we can finally kill it!"

Minato heard many other statements like this from the ignorant civilians, but the Shinobi Clan Heads were all still silent – they were all waiting for him to continue as each suspected that there was more to be said.

The Hokage and Danzo continued to stare each other down. Danzo's face was an impassive mask, but Minato's expert eyes could see the wheels turning behind the bandaged man's face. Danzo was scheming something, and it involved Naruto.

Minato's eyes narrowed at the man dangerously. He would not have Naruto. Minato would be a cold corpse before the ROOT Commander ever touched his son.

"ENOUGH!" Minato shouted, letting out enough Killing Intent on the civilians that each of them shut up and began sweating. "I've grown tired of you _civilians_ and your accusations. You sit here calling for Naruto's execution, and you want _me_ to do it!? I will no longer sit by while you call my _wife and son_ monsters!"

Minato's shout echoed in the silence that permeated the Council Chambers following his declaration.

The entire Council was stunned. The whole Civilian Section had paled significantly and each of them were frozen stiff. The Clan Heads – minus Fugaku, Shikaku, and the others who'd known about his and Kushina's relationship – had each collectively dropped their jaws or were gaping like a school of fish out of water. Koharu and Homura didn't bother trying to hide their openly shocked looks, and even the usually stoic Danzo's eyes had actually widened in astonishment at this new development.

The blue-eyed Hokage inwardly smirked at all of the reactions. It would seem that Sandaime-sama had kept his word about keeping their relationship secret from the Council after all.

"Yes," he told them all again. "Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze is mine and Kuzhina's child and heir's full name."

"The-The Yellow Flash and Hot-Blooded Habenero had a son," one of the lesser Clan Heads was the first to find his shaky voice.

"And the child is the Jinchuuriki of the most powerful of the nine Biju," Danzo's smooth voice reminded them all. "Uzumaki-san was on the cusp of becoming an S-Class shinobi before her sudden retirement ten months ago. It would seem that we now know why."

"It would appear so," Koharu agreed with the aging, bandaged former shiobi. "Motherhood forces many kunoichi into retirement."

"Yes, it does," Homura agreed with his old teammate. "However the question now is: What will happen now?"

Minato's eyes went freezing as he stared down the three older former shinobi. "_My_ son will stay with his only living family – which would be myself," he reminded them. "No one has the ability or right to take him, and I promise swift retribution on _any_ that should try." He emphasized his point by flashing his Killing Intent enough for everyone in the chamber to feel his seriousness.

"What my old friend means," Danzo cut in, "is that we are curious as to how the Jinchuuriki will be trained."

The Hokage's cerulean eyes narrowed again as he answered, his voice cold as ice, "My _son_ will not receive any special training beyond what _I_ deem he should need."

"A pity," the bandaged former disciple of the Nidaime said simply, but he left it at that.

_A pity you won't sink your claws into my son, you old bastard,_ Minato thought to himself.

"Hokage-sama," Hiashi Hyuuga called after clearing his throat. "Why did you call for this meeting?"

"Most of the purpose has been served," Minato answered the pale-eyed Hyuuga Head. "There is only one more matter I wish to inform you all of."

"And that is?" Koharu asked him.

"That everything that has been discussed within this chamber since I walked in is now classified as an S-Class Secret and if anyone within the Council speaks of these matters outside this room without my express consent they will be swiftly executed for treason against Konoha."

A heavy silence covered the room as he finished speaking. It wasn't the punishment that forced the silence, but the way in which it was spoken. The Hokage's voice hadn't raised or lowered in the slightest throughout his final declaration. He hadn't threatened them with death, he'd _promised_ it.

* * *

"Hokage-sama," one of his personal ANBU called to him.

Minato looked up from his desk. He had just put Naruto in the crib that both he and Kushina had built together. Well, it would be more accurate to say that he'd built it while his wife had gone from screaming at him for doing something wrong to crying about how fat she'd gotten and then right back quicker than a switch could be flipped.

Hormones.

It was the morning after the Kyuubi was unleashed by the Masked Man, and Minato hadn't slept. He didn't bother to try, as he knew he wouldn't be able to. He was still – even if he didn't allow himself to show it – very emotional from everything that had occurred last night.

Minato decided against leaving the Hokage Tower since he could personally guarantee the loyalty of those under his direct command within the Tower. It was the one place where he felt that _Naruto_ would be completely safe.

The overprotective father in him wanted Naruto to be under heavy guard by four separate ANBU squads around the clock. The Hokage side to him, however, kept on being annoying and reminding him of his responsibilities to the village as a whole in rebuilding and maintaining the internal strength after the attack the previous night. In the end, he offered himself a compromise: Have Naruto's crib moved to his office until he could find someone completely trustworthy to take care of Naruto while he maintained his necessities as the Hokage. Both sides of himself had grumbled on how they didn't get what they wanted but would accept it. Hiruzen had told him that a good compromise really left nobody happy afterwards.

Minato briefly wondered if arguing with yourself to the point of being forced to compromise would be considered grounds for a mental evaluation.

"Yes, Anbu-san?" he finally answered.

"Jounin Hatake wishes to see you."

Minato blinked in surprise. In all the fuss over the Kyuubi attack, losing Kushina, and the drama with the Council, he'd completely forgotten about his former student.

The Hokage silently cursed himself for his foolishness. In his single-minded plow-through of the Council in order to protect his flesh-and-blood, he'd forgotten about the other person who was like a son to him, and Kakashi relied on him.

Ever since losing Obito during the Kannabi Bridge mission, Kakashi had begun to withdraw within himself. Rin-chan was eventually able to get him out of his shell, but her capture and…circumstances of death nearly destroyed him. Everyone knows of how Sakumo had died, so Minato was all Kakashi really had left now.

The thought of what might've become of Kakashi had he been the one to seal the Kyuubi made Minato shiver.

"Please allow him in," he finally told the ANBU.

The ANBU simply nodded and then disappeared. The double doors into the Hokage's office then opened and Minato's last-remaining student walked in.

"Hokage-sama," Kakashi greeted him respectfully with a bow.

One of his blonde brows rose at Kakashi's unusual greeting as he stood up from his chair and moved around his desk. Curious, he asked, "Hokage-sama?"

A moment of silence passed before the young ANBU flashed across the room in a silver flash and wrapped his teacher in an affectionate hug. "I'm so glad you made it, sensei," the silver-haired youth's voice slightly cracked as he sait it. "I was so worried."

Minato returned the hug gently. "I'm fine, Kakashi," he assured the young man. "Remember the promise we made after…"

The masked youth's face nodded, but stayed buried in the blonde man's cloak. "You promised that I'd never have to worry about losing you as well. But seeing the Kyuubi, and hearing the rumors second-hand… I couldn't stop myself!"

The man known as the Yellow Flash was astounded at how much emotion Kakashi was showing. His masked student had strictly followed the Shinobi Code since his induction into ANBU after…Rin. The young son of the White Fang must have been bottling up his emotions even more-so than usual.

_I guess the thought of being alone again was too much for him_, Minato thought about Kakashi.

The blue-eyed man simply sat there and merely allowed his presence to help calm his last student. Minato had always had Kushina to confide in and to assure him whenever he needed a confidence boost, but Kakashi hadn't allowed himself a confidante after the war. The young Jounin had buried himself in his ANBU work, and some of those missions even made Minato queasy.

However, the eccentric Chuunin Maito Gai was slowly helping Kakashi out of his depression with his continuous challenges and generally cheerful demeanor. The man's personality left plenty to be desired, but Gai was proving himself to be both a capable shinobi and the friend that Kakashi really needed.

Minato silently reminded himself to arrange Gai for an exam to reach Jounin. If both Kakashi and Gai were Jounin, then they'd be able to spend time together on missions that most Chuunin weren't allowed to partake in. There was no denying the green-clad shinobi's skills, so there shouldn't be any problems with the promotion.

"Sensei?"

Kakashi's voice brought Minato back from his thoughts. It appears as though a decent amount of time had passed, if the slightly damp feeling on his left side was any indication.

The blonde man gave his young Jounin a gentle smile. "Sorry," he apologized. "I've got a lot on my mind. Do you feel any better now Kakashi-kun?"

A small groan came from the masked youth. "For Kami's sake, sensei! I'm a Jounin in ANBU now! I'm not a little kid."

The former teacher merely smiled and ruffled the gravity-defying silver hair. "I know that," he told his former student. "Old habits die hard, ya know?"

Kakashi's lone visible eye curled up into what Obito had called his infamous 'Eye Smile' and said, "I guess so."

Just then, an infant's wail reached both of their ears. Minato activated his Hiraishin on instinct and left Kakashi's arms and arrived next to Naruto's crib in a flash. He then reached down and pulled his infant son to his chest.

The new father didn't know much about parenting, but Kushina had insisted on him reading a few books, and he decided to employ one of those book's strategies now: He rocked baby Naruto in his arms and whispered comforting words to his son. He knew that the infant in his arms couldn't understand what he said, but it was in _how _he said it that Naruto eventually calmed back down.

The Hokage smiled at his son at his son as Naruto's own pair of cerulean eyes stared up at him curiously. "I was wondering when you were going to wake back up," Minato told his child. "You've been out for nearly nine hours now. Daddy was beginning to worry."

The whiskered infant bobbed his arms up and down as he squealed in delight. Before anything else could occur, however, Naruto's face scrunched up like he was in pain. The child then began to scream again.

Minato began to panic. _What's wrong?_ He mentally panicked as Naruto kept on screaming. "What's wrong Naruto?" he asked nervously.

The infant continued to wail as Minato's thoughts were running through hundreds of possible reasons for why Naruto might be in pain.

_Teething?_ He pondered. _No, it's too soon for that._ Right as he dismissed the thought, a terrible stench wafted itself into his nose. "So that's it!" he realized. "You need a diaper change!"

The father-in-training had prepared for this situation, luckily. The blonde man walked over to his desk. He then took out a small blanket and set it on his desk, pulled out the diaper bag from one of his desk drawers, set his still-crying son on the blanket, and then pulled out a new diaper.

"Alright," Minato said energetically as he prepared for his son's first diaper change. He held the diaper in front of him with both hands and peeked over the top of the cloth in his hands and looked at his son. "Time for a change!"

It was at this precise moment that the heralded genius mind which created the Rasengan and was able to improve upon the Hiraishin stopped functioning.

"Uh…" the father drawled confusedly as his child continued to screech. "Come on, Minato. You know this," he told himself. "Kushina made you read hundreds of books on parenting. At least one of them had to have something on how to change a diaper."

Kakashi and all of the hidden ANBU in the room watched as four dots slowly appeared over their Hokage's head one-by-one as his search for the required knowledge turned up a blank.

"Damn it!" Minato yelled in frustration. "I can't believe that I don't know how to change a diaper!" His cerulean eyes then shone with determination as they glinted in the sunlight. "It's okay. You're the Yondaime Hokage, Minato. You can figure this out."

Minato set himself upon his task…and failed miserably.

The first attempt, Naruto's diaper was put on backwards. The second attempt, the diaper was put on sideways somehow. On the third try, Naruto's diaper was draped across his body diagonally and Minato thought he heard from the background, "Toga! Toga! Toga!" On his fourth try, Naruto's diaper had somehow become a turban on top of his head.

"How is that even possible!?" Minato screamed in frustration. "It shouldn't be this hard!" He looked down at his son, and he could swear that Naruto's blue eyes held amusement in them. "Are you doing this to me?" he asked his son with narrowed eyes. "Did you somehow come up with a genjutsu to mess with my abilities to change your diapers? Kai (Release)!" he yelled as he temporarily halted his chakra flow in an attempt to dispel any possible genjutsu cast on him.

"Move," the female ANBU guard ordered as she shoved him aside. "I'll do it. If only to spare the child further embarrassment."

The Hokage stumbled over from the push but was able to quickly regain his balance. He acted like he was brushing dust off of his cloak as he said, "Yes. Well…thanks for the assistance Neko. I appreciate it."

He then looked around and noticed that Kakashi was holding his sides and shaking in uncontrolled laughter as he leaned over to keep himself from falling. Minato also heard snickering coming from the shadows.

"And here I thought ANBU were supposed to be professionals," the father groused.

"We are, Hokage-sama," Neko informed him as she finished changing Naruto. She then held the child up, and the diaper on him was done so perfectly that its brilliance glittered in the sunlight. "But even we can crack on the job if we see something like that."

Even though her face was covered by her mask, Minato just knew that the brown-haired woman was grinning at him in amusement. He didn't need to check on his other guards to know that they held the same expression she did.

"Thanks for the help, Neko," he finally thanked her.

"It's my job," she shrugged. "But I would recommend either learning how to change a diaper soon or hiring someone to look over your son for you. If not for you sake, than his." The female ANBU then vanished from his sight.

"Well there's no way I'm hiring a nanny," Minato said absentmindedly as he thought of what his wife would do to him if he'd even suggested it.

"Um… Sensei," Kakashi called while trying to stifle his laughter. "Is that…?" he trailed off.

"His name is Naruto," he answered the young Jounin. "And he is mine and Kushina's son, Kakashi."

The silver-haired youth's love visible eye widened in realization. "What about Kushina-nee?" he asked his teacher hurriedly. "I was a part of the team that collected Sandaime-sama's body, but there was no sign of her body anywhere."

Minato winced at the almost desperate way Kakashi had asked him as he laid Naruto back into his crib.

The Hokage let out a tired sigh as he felt exhaustion beginning to pull at him at long last. "She's gone, Kakashi," he told him. "She and Sandaime-sama gave themselves to seal the Kyuubi again."

"But that doesn't explain why there wasn't a body!" Kakashi exclaimed.

"Kakashi," Minato said sternly, causing his former student to wince. "What you are asking about is a SS-Class secret that none other than myself, Kushina, and Sandaime-sama were privy to. I've given you all that I can at the moment." His voice lost its edge as he gently requested of his former student, "All I ask is that you trust me on this Kakashi. I promise you that it's not as dangerous as you think, though. Just know I can't tell you anything more. It's not that I don't trust you," he quickly added before Kakashi took it the wrong way. "It's that I'm not even certain as to how everything will work out myself."

"I… I understand, sensei," the youth relented with a sigh. The son of the White Fang then walked across the room and joined Minato next to Naruto's crib. He peered down at the softly sleeping infant and whispered, "If the Kyuubi has been resealed, then that means…"

"Yes," Minato affirmed his former student's suspicions. "Naruto is the new Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi."

"That's…tragic," Kakashi managed to say. "Kushina-nee always said that she was all alone until she met you, and now Naruto's gonna have to go through the same thing?"

"He won't," the father swore to him. "I promised Kushina that he won't be forced to live the normal Jinchuuriki, and I have every intention on keeping my promise to her. That's why, last night at the Council meeting, I declared Naruto's status as the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki an S-Class secret. The only people who will know are those on the Council, the Jounin and ANBU, and the people that Naruto or I find fit to entrust the information to. The only people allowed to inform others are myself, Naruto, and anyone I or Naruto allow to."

Kakashi's visible eye blinked as he took all that in. "Wow," he finally managed to say. "You're not taking any chances on this one, are you?"

"Wherever it comes to my son," Minato said evenly, "I take absolutely no chances. He'll have three ANBU squads assigned to him."

"That's overkill!" Kakashi exclaimed.

"Not all at once," he answered the young ANBU. Minato was fairly certain that he heard one of his own ANBU let out a sigh in relief, causing the Hokage to briefly smile. "Each one will operate in a rotation in order to prevent any noticeable drop-off in skills and missions. Each squad will shift every two months for now."

"Do you know which squads will be Naruto's protectors yet, sensei?" Minato could tell it took a considerable amount of willpower for his old student to not beg to be put in charge of the whiskered child's protective detail.

"I'm going to be sifting through candidates for the next few days," he answered honestly. The blue-eyed man then laid his hand on his former student's shoulder comfortingly and said, "I'll only put people whom I can trust on keeping him safe. So you'll get your chance, Kakashi."

The silver-haired Jounin's fist clenched tight and began to tremble. "I won't let you down, sensei," he swore. "I have no intention on breaking my promise ever again."

Minato knew that his old student was referring to not being able to keep his promise to Obito about protecting Rin. He merely gave his student's shoulder a reassuring squeeze and told him, "I know you won't."

The former sensei and student both merely stood there together in companionable silence for a time. Neither of them said a word, as nothing was needed to be said. The bond they both shared was so strong that each could tell what the other was thinking, and they simply enjoyed the silent companionship each offered to one another.

Eventually, Kakashi let out a deep breath. He then looked up at his Hokage and said with an eye smile, "Thanks, sensei. You don't know how much this means to me."

Minato simply smiled down at him. "You're welcome. Now run along and get back to your squad. I've already approved your Team Leader for the mission to leave once your squad had gathered. I'll see you in a few weeks, Kakashi."

The young ANBU nodded at him. "Thanks. I needed a way to get rid of some stress, and Kiri-nin are a great stress-reliever."

The Hokage chuckled. "Yes, they are. You should hurry on, or Taka will get restless and send out a search party. Besides, you've got another person accompanying your squad, and they're no doubt getting antsy."

"Maa," Kakashi waved him off. "I'm off then." The young ANBU then disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

"I hope Gai can keep up," Minato muttered to nobody in particular. "Because Kakashi will run even _him_ ragged on the mission now."

Minato walked over to his desk. As he reached it, he fell into his chair and rubbed his eyes in an attempt to force the sleep away.

He suddenly heard the sound of a kunai cutting through the air towards his head. The Yellow Flash simply pulled out one of his personal kunai and lazily batted the small kunai away. He then threw his own kunai in response directly towards the person who'd tried to kill him.

Minato heard his kunai collide with the wood of his office's walls.

"You're slipping," Jiraiya's voice teased him from directly behind his chair. The white-haired man then laid the cold steel of his kunai against Minato's throat as he added, "I never used to be able to get this close."

"And you still can't," 'Minato' said from the chair. The yellow-haired man in the seat then vanished in a puff of smoke.

"Kage Bunshin (Shadow Clone), huh?" the Sannin realized as he felt Minato's own kunai at his throat. "Not bad, Minato.

"Thanks, sensei," the real Minato acknowledged the compliment. "I hadn't used it in awhile, so I figured it'd be a good time to see if I was still able to use it the way I used to."

"I'd say that you still got it kid."

"Appreciated," he told his sensei. "It would also appear that you're still the master of stealth, seeing as how four _ANBUs_ didn't notice you were here and alert me," he added on with a glare into the shadows.

"It's not their fault," Jiraiya waved him of lazily. "After-all, it's to be expected that mere shinobi can't sense the Great, Gallant, and Devilishly Handsome Sage of Mount Myoboku, Jiraiya-sama!" He punctuated his 'modest' introduction with his usual introductory dance.

Minato just sweatdropped at his sensei's antics. _How is it that the dance has actually gotten _worse_?_ He wondered in a small amount of amazement.

"Now then," Jiraiya began as he posed again for the ANBU, "I heard about what was happening and rushed back as fast as I could."

"Where were you?"

"In Sunagakure."

"That's not possible!" one of the ANBUs yelled in protest. "It's a four day trip from Konoha to Suna – at least!"

Jiraiya merely gave the ANBUs one of his mischievous grins and told them, "Never underestimate the powers of the toads." He then went serious as he turned back to Minato. "Gamabunta told me about everything, and what he didn't tell me I heard when you were talking to your minion. So I should be up to speed."

"Not quite," Minato corrected him. He then said to his ANBU, "Leave for the next hour. Jiraiya-sama and I have matters to discuss that none else are to know of."

The four ANBU chakra signatures immediately left Minato's senses after his order. He then cast a few hand signs and activated his office's Privacy Seals in order to make absolutely certain that there would be no eavesdroppers.

The white-haired man arched an eyebrow at him curiously, "A little cautious, are we?"

"One can never be," he answered. "You taught me that. Granted, that was a lesson on not getting caught at the onsen, but the sentiment counts."

"Finally someone understands my methods!" Jiraiya exclaimed in joy. "People just don't understand that my teachings are perfect in their transition into how to be a shinobi! You really are the perfect student!"

Minato rubbed the back of his neck bashfully as he laughed anxiously. "No, I'm just adaptable… I guess."

"Quick," the Sannin tested him. "Three measurements for that ANBU earlier."

"Eighty six, fifty-one, eighty-one," Minato rattle off instinctively.

"Amazing!" the older pervert exclaimed. "Your skills at observations are still at the highest level possible! Not even Nagato's eyes were ever that sharp! You truly are the Child of Prophecy!"

"About that," the blonde man interjected. "I don't believe that I'm supposed to be the Child of Prophecy you've told me about."

"Huh?" the Sannin stopped his dance of happiness and looked at him curiously. "If not you, then who?"

"I'll give you a hint: He's in this room."

"In this room?" Jiraiya parroted. "Well, there's me of course, you – but you don't think that you're the Child of Prophecy, so that leaves…" The older man's eyes widened as he realized what Minato was saying. "Naruto."

"Yes," the Yellow Flash nodded to his teacher. "I truly believe that my son is the Child of Prophecy, not me."

"And why is that?" Jiraiya probed.

"Because had Sandaime-sama not followed me last night, I wouldn't be the one you would be talking to."

"What do you mean, Minato?" All humor had left his sensei's face.

"I mean that I _should_ be dead right now," he reiterated. "Had Sandaime-sama acted even an instant later, I would have perished for sealing the Kyuubi within Naruto."

Jiraiya paled and said, "Then Gamabunta didn't lie. You really were going to use the Shiki Fujin yourself, weren't you?"

The blue-eyed former student simply nodded. "I had every intention of giving my life last night," he answered. "It was only Sandaime-sama's quick action that saved me, but put himself in my place. I'm lucky to be alive, sensei."

"What makes you say that Naruto's the Child of Prophecy?"

A wistful smile crossed his features as he answered, "Because he's mine and Kushina's son, and I just _know _that he'll surpass us both. It _is_ the job of our children to surpass their parents. I was willing to bet the fate of the entire shinobi worlds on him, and I still am."

"What happened last night Minato?" the Sannin nearly demanded.

A tired sigh escaped his throat. "I think I met the man who'll be the cause of all the chaos in your prophecy, and he's quite possibly the most deadly adversary I've ever faced."

"Tell me everything," his sensei ordered him for the first time since Minato had been his apprentice.

And Minato did. He told the older shinobi about the Masked Man's abilities and numerous exploits of last night, as well as whom the Hokage had suspected him of being. Jiraiya never interrupted and just stood there listening to everything Minato revealed carefully.

When he finished recounting the events of the previous night up to the new seal on Naruto, Minato asked, "Well?"

The white-haired sage crossed his arms over his chest and donned a look of deep contemplation. "I admit," he answered his former student slowly, "that this 'Masked Man' is, indeed, a dangerous threat and could very well be the Harbinger of Chaos that the Great Toad Sage told me of. However, I find it hard to believe that he would be Madara Uchiha. The man was a dangerous enemy and a powerful shinobi, second only to the Shodaime himself, and that is why I doubt this 'Masked Man' is who he indirectly claimed to be.

"You're strong Minato," he continued. "There's a reason Sarutobi-sensei chose you to be his successor, but you're nowhere near the fabled strength of Hashirama Senju, and he and the original Madara Uchiha were near-equals in strength. No offense, but if that had been the _real_ Madara, then Konoha would be a smoldering crater right now."

"None taken," Minato told his mentor with a wave of his hand. "I actually agree with you on all of those points. There's a reason Shodaime-sama is heralded as the Kami no Shinobi. I was actually starting the think the same thing you just said, and now that I have a second opinion that agrees with mine, I'm thinking that it's more likely that Madara had a secret apprentice and that's who the Masked Man is."

"Not impossible," Jiraiya agreed. "But it's been nearly fifty years since the Battle of the End, and that would mean that Madara's apprentice would've been at _least_ that old. However, you said that the Masked Man seemed younger than you."

"He did," the Hokage realized the flaw in his logic. "A shinobi that's been around for five decades would've done more than rely on his ability to become intangible. And when I think on it, his _entire_ fighting style revolved around his Sharingan's abilities and the jutsu to become untouchable."

"Which could mean?"

"That he hasn't been around for very long," Minato concluded. "He would've had more in his arsenal if he'd had at least ten years of honing his abilities, but he only used his intangibility. That could mean that he's not confident enough in his other skills to use them, and if that's true, then that means the Masked Man hasn't been this powerful for very long."

"My thoughts exactly," Jiraiya congratulated his former student's reasoning. "Now the only problem is to come up with a possible identity for him."

"All we have on a possible identity," the blue-eyed Hokage told his former sensei, "is his Sharingan. He was able to use it in ways Kakashi can't use his, so it's probable that he's a true-born Uchiha who discovered the mythical Mangekyo."

"That could be true," the Sannin replied as he rested his fist beneath his chin in a gesture of contemplation. "Not many outside the Uchiha Clan know much of anything on those eyes' special abilities. I've heard from sensei that he believed the Mangekyo was how the original Madara was able to control the Kyuubi when he fought Hashirama."

"So he's an Uchiha, at the very least," Minato put together.

"Most likely."

_Has Fugaku been hiding more information from me?_ Minato wondered. _Regardless, I can't ignore this. I'll need to keep the Uchiha under surveillance and look for anyone in possession of the Mangekyo._

"Minato, you there?" Jiraiya's voice brought him back.

"Sorry, sensei," he apologized as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck again. "I was just thinking."

"Good," the white-haired Sannin nodded appreciatively. "Those Uchihas have always rubbed me the wrong way, and that Fugaku is the worst of them. They're so confident in their own superiority that they walk around with a stick shoved so far up their asses that I'm surprised they're not chewing on wood whenever they open their mouths."

Minato briefly chuckled as he pictured the Uchiha Clan Head-Popsicle. He quickly righted himself and defended his wife's best friend, "Mikoto isn't like that, though."

"I'll give you that," Jiraiya conceded to him. "Mikoto and her cousin are the only good ones. Neither of 'em look down on anyone and are completely loyal to their friends and Konoha. By the way, did you know Mikoto gave birth the other day?"

"I knew she was due around now," he answered, slightly stunned that he'd not known. "But I hadn't heard that she'd had the child yet. I guess I should go congratulate her."

"She'll be by soon enough," the older man assured him. "If there's one thing that I know about her it's that she thought of Kushina as the sister she'd never had. I'm fairly certain that if you asked, she'd be more than happy to take care of little Naruto for you."

"I'd not thought about asking her," the father answered his former sensei. _I'll admit, she seems like the perfect candidate to take care of Naruto in the ways I can't. She was fiercely protective of Kushina, she's already a mother so she knows how to take care of an infant, and she's just given birth so she'll be able to nurse Naruto as well. And, right now, she's probably the only person in the entire Uchiha Compound I can trust, as I know for a fact that she'd never try and harm Kushina in any way._

"You really need to stop spacing out on me, brat," Jiraiya told him, sounding exasperated. "Here I am, asking about my Godson, and you're staring off into space – no doubt plotting again."

Minato simply grinned at his old sensei. "Sorry, sensei. But one of us has to do the thinking, and you're obviously not the thinking type, based on your dress."

"OI!" the Toad Sage yelled indignantly. "How many times must I remind you that the ladies _love_ the hermit look?"

Right before he could cut back with a remark on just which kind of ladies the older Sannin was referring to, Minato heard his infant son start to cry again. He shot his sensei a dirty look and accused flatly, "You woke him up."

"No I didn't," Jiraiya protest weakly. "It was your false accusations of unattractiveness which spurned your son form sleep."

The new father simply sighed, exasperated at his sensei's overly-dramatic way of speech. He then reached into his desk and pulled out Naruto's bottle.

"Here," he said as he tossed the bottle to the white-haired man. "Neko told me that he might get hungry around now, so feed him. I'm not trying again until I get that weird genjutsu that I'm sure he cast on me out of my system."

The man Minato saw as a semi-father-figure caught the bottle in one of his burly hands and grinned at him. "I'll admit, that was funny," he said as he picked up his godson.

"Yeah, yeah," Minato told him. "Laugh it up. Just you wait until you have to try."

"Oh I'm not going near that," Jiraiya answered with a chuckle as he put the bottle into the whiskered child's mouth, leading to the infant calming down again. Naruto began to suck his bottle as Jiraiya said, "I've seen the trouble you went through, and I'd rather fight Tsunade after she's gone on a drinking binge than go through the torture you experienced."

"Do you know where she is?" Minato queried.

"Hime?" the self-proclaimed Super Pervert of Konoha asked. "My network had her in a border town between Hi no Kuni (Fire Country) and Kaze no Kuni (Wind Country) as of yesterday. Said she was still off drinking and gambling away her family's fortune in her grief. But who knows, maybe little Naru-chan here can crack her heart of ice," Jiraiya added as he gently rocked the still-feeding infant. "Good lord you must be hungry."

"Is Shizune-chan still with her?" Minato asked curiously.

Jiraiya nodded without looking up from feeding the blonde babe in his arm. "Still with her, and Shizune's little pet pig Tonton. I highly doubt that Hime will let Dan's last-living family member get hurt. I'd hoped that when word reached of her favorite student having a child, she'd come back to Konoha to meet him. But now that Kushina's gone, as well as sensei, I don't think it'll do much.

"As much as she said she hated the old man's guts for Dan and Nawaki's deaths, I could tell that she didn't really mean it as deeply as she acted. Sure she resented him. Even though sensei didn't implement idea when she recommended it, she knew that he would've never tried to hurt her. I wish that they'd have been able to come clean with each other before he passed, but it's too late for that."

A small silent spell passed over the room, with the only noise being Naruto suckling on his bottle. Once the bottle had been emptied Jiraiya removed it, placed Naruto on his shoulder, and patted the child's back until the infant let out a belch.

"Kushina's not dead, sensei," Minato finally stated.

The large, white-haired form of the Toad Sage froze as he heard Minato's statement. "Explain," he ordered.

And so he did. The Hokage spent the next ten minutes explaining the revised seal on Naruto, how he came up with the idea, and the new seal's differing capabilities.

As Minato finished his explanation, Jiraiya placed the tip of his free hand's forefinger on Naruto's abdomen and channeled a small amount of chakra into the cooing infant in his arm. As the seal appeared, the other Seal Master sucked in a shocked breath.

"This is an Eight Trigrams," the Sannin breathed in wonder, "but it's so much more. You're right, it's physically impossible to seal off of the Kyuubi's massive amount of chakra into a newborn infant with undeveloped Chakra Coils, but this seal made it happen. Whod've thought, a Dual-Layered Eight Trigrams with a buffer between the two halves of Kyuubi's chakra.

"Only you, Minato."

* * *

**A/N: **And here's Chapter 2 for you all.

Hope you guys are liking my portrayal of Minato. I'm doing my best to make him a believable character with real character faults and the like. Right now, he's in overprotective father mode due to what's happened.

Please remember that the members in ANBU at the moment are not all the same as the ANBU once Naruto graduates, so some characters won't be the same for a little while. So no, Neko was not Yuugao, if you couldn't tell from my descriptions of her.

I hope I'm did a good job with the Council. I'm hoping to keep things as close to canon as possible, but there will be a few minor changes to things that Kishimoto never explained or gave a date for. I'm using the Naruto Timeline on Narutopedia, if you're wondering. A few things will be different from that timeline, but nothing major. All of the major events prior to the Kyuubi assault still occurred when they should've.

Now then, the question of why Danzo didn't try harder to take Naruto. To put it simply, Danzo recognizes an unwinnable situation when he sees one. Minato has the backing and support of the entire village of Konoha, and Minato has the familial relationship to ensure that Naruto can't go anywhere unless he chooses to allow it. Not to mention that Minato's also the Hokage. So, to Danzo, it really is a pity that he can't have Naruto given to him. When Naruto was an orphan, he could've possibly fought with Sarutobi and even possibly won for Naruto's custody, but with Minato still being alive, there's nothing that Danzo can do.

I know I'm evil for giving you such a small peek into the new seal on Naruto. I'll let you guys offer your theories on what you think this Seal means or doesn't mean. As it will be a long time before the seal is fully explained.

Also, I'm going to tell you reviewers that I _won't _throw canon out of the window. I can't do that, because then I won't have anything to really work with when it comes to the future of the story. So, I'm looking at this situation the same as I have in my Code Geass fic: Use canon as a backbone, but change the right details to make it my own and add more meat to the plot and story as a whole. What that means is that some events will most likely occur, just not the same way or for the same reason that they did in canon, and that will mean is that the long-reaching affects can be altered realistically, instead of just taking all of the Naruto manga and tearing them apart.

So if you don't like it, sorry. I just wanted to go ahead and warn you guys about it since I got a review about it. Minato isn't perfect, but that doesn't make him incompetent. Neither does it make what Hiruzen did incompetent either. Need I remind you that Hiruzen was against the Uchiha massacre, all the way up until he gave the go-ahead two years later for Itachi to do it when negotiations truly fell apart with Fugaku. It was Itachi who volunteered for it and sought out Tobi (don't wanna be accused of being a spoiler for those who haven't read the manga yet) to help in the massacre two years early. So don't blame Hiruzen for it, he didn't want to do it even when he ordered it. Also, do you really think that Minato will want to cause a war with his own son still barely out of infancy?

Sorry for the rant, I just felt like I needed to get that off of my chest. I know I probably pissed off a few of you, but I have my own opinions, and you have yours. If we differ, then we differ. Just don't take it out on my child here.

God damn this Note got long... Again.

I really need to quit this, I'm fairly certain that at least one-tenth of my entire story length (counting my other stories as well) is just my Author's Notes.

(Sigh) sorry about that... \(_ _) I'll work on mincing my words next time (hopefully).


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

* * *

_One week,_ Minato thought as he finished his paperwork for the day and leaned back into his office chair.

His eyes moved over to his son's sleeping form in the crib.

Naruto had been a perfect baby so far – if you didn't count the difficulties his father had learning how to change a diaper without any help. Minato rarely had to guess on what was bothering his son any time he needed something as – short of holding up a sign for him – Naruto usually let him know immediately.

The revised seal must've accelerated the infant's development somehow. Minato couldn't come up with another possible explanation as to how his son was so intelligent so soon.

When the signs had first appeared a few days ago, Minato had been rather skeptical – he blamed his upbringing as an orphan and the required paranoia it took to be Hokage. So he had a licensed medic-nin come in and perform a diagnostic on his son to see if anything was indeed wrong with the boy. However, the medic had assured him that Naruto was perfectly healthy. Aside from advanced chakra capacity – Minato had expected that, what with the full amount of Kyuubi's chakra within him – and a speedily-developing frontal lobe, his child was the picture of perfect health.

Eventually, Minato had simply chalked up the phenomenon surrounding his son to the unexplained effects of the previously-untested Dual-Layered Eight Trigrams. It made about as much sense as anything else when it came to his son.

Little Naruto was quickly becoming an enigma to him. Those blue eyes of his son were always fluttering around whenever Minato carried him around, acting like he was taking in his surroundings like he was beginning to slowly recognize wherever he was. The next instant though, the babe would blink and the intelligence just disappeared like it had never been there in the first place. Continually thinking on the 'why's of his son's actions left the Hokage with a slowly-growing migraine, so he gave up on figuring that out.

"I swear you're going to be an even bigger headache than your mother was," Minato whispered to his son.

The blonde man decided that since lunch was slowly approaching, he should stretch. So he did.

Minato slowly stood up from the desk he'd been sitting in for around six straight hours and groaned as he felt his knees and back pop. "That feels better," he said as he stretched his arms outwards and to his sides. As he stepped over to his office's grand window he spoke to nobody in particular, "Repairs seem to be moving along smoothly."

And he was right. The initial estimates stated that it would take at least six months before the village would even begin to resemble itself again, but the way things were progressing it looked like they'd be finished with the village's repairs in no more than four months tops. That was a blessing because the village's appearance was one of the reasons Konoha received as much business as it did. It would seem that the Civilians on the Council recognized this, and they wanted to keep Konoha prosperous in order to keep a steady flow of cash into their own, personal businesses.

Under the Hokage's orders, all missions outside of Konoha – unless he said otherwise – were put on hold and the shinobi forces all worked in tandem with the civilians to rebuild their home. The Jounin were assigned to the defense of the village in the case of an unexpected attack; each of them carried one of Minato's Hiraishin kunai with them so that he could be summoned to and deal with any threat personally and so far there hadn't been any sign of any enemy shinobi. The Chuunin helped to pass along orders from the building leaders and acted as Supervisors on each construction site while using their own jutsu to help speed along the project. The Genin were, of course, delegated the bulk of the grunt work; Minato'd told them to use the opportunity to train on their wall-walking and chakra control.

The site of those young eyes looking up at him with admiration still made Minato grin, despite himself. He wasn't egotistical at all – a miracle considering who his sensei had been – but it always felt good to be respected and admired by the future generations.

The creak of his office's doors opening brought Minato away from his musing. He turned around and paled as he saw his secretary walk in with another stack of paperwork as tall as she was.

"Hokage-sama," the young woman's muffled voice called from behind the mountain of slain trees. "Here's the afternoon's pile." The blue-haired woman then dropped the pile of the devil's-gift-to-all-Kage's-ever on his desk with a noticeable 'thud.' "All of these need to be filled out by the end of the day. Some are requests from the Council for you to make an appearance again in order to boost morale further. More are applications for the Academy when it re-opens next month after repairs are finished. And more still are official requests for more help on some construction sites."

"Is that all?" Minato asked nervously, afraid of the answer.

"Of course not," she answered dismissively. "But I'll let you figure all those out. I was able to write my personal recommendations on most of the requests for aid, but it's your decision on whether or not Mr. A gets shinobi assistance rebuilding his private onsen or Ms. B gets more help putting up her crushed fence again."

"Are those serious requests?" he asked, flabbergasted.

"Oh, you should've seen the ones I actually threw out," she told him. "One person thought that his dog was sabotaging his relationship with his wife and wanted someone to 'take care' of the old pup."

"You're kidding, right?" Minato deadpanned.

"Of course not, Hokage-sama," the green-eyed nineteen-year-old winked at him.

"Well, thanks for your help, Ryuuma-san," he said wearily. _Damn you Sarutobi!_ he mentally screamed as he just pictured the Sandaime's grinning face at him while holding up the 'peace' sign with his fingers. _You never told me there'd be _this_ much paperwork!_

"Of course," Ryuuma answered him. The young woman then walked over to little Naruto's crib and cooed, "He's so adorable!"

Minato just rolled his eyes as he sat down and began to go over the first sheet of new paperwork. _I'll never understand it,_ he thought as he scanned the civilian's request – it turned out that his secretary hadn't been kidding about the requests for shinobi assistance.

"Oh, by the way Ryuuma?" Minato called to her. "What are you doing back so early? I'm fairly certain that I saw a hospital report earlier that said your father was in the hospital."

His assistant rolled her bright green eyes and answered, "That old geezer has been in-and-out of the hospital for years. I went to see him this morning before I came in; turned out he went in because he _thought_ he broke his ankle. He _walked_ to the hospital and couldn't figure out his ankle wasn't broken on his own! I swear, if he wasn't my father I'd have probably given up on him already."

The Hokage smiled as he grabbed the next sheet in a seemingly-infinite pile. He rejected the request to decrease the Sales Tax any further, at the moment Konoha's finances were strained enough as it was. "Unfortunately for you, though, you never give up on family."

"Yeah," she agreed. "Though most of my _family_ didn't like me being different and kicked me and Dad out to save face when I got pregnant," she retold him with barely-restrained bitterness.

"How is your daughter, by the way?" Minato asked. He'd let Ryuuma become his personal assistant when he took the Hokage position because he'd heard about her story from a friend and had been impressed with her drive to provide for a dementia-riddled father and a daughter born out of wedlock.

"She's fine," Ryuuma answered him tiredly. "You know, she's got his hair, and my everything else, right?" Minato simply nodded as he'd heard so quite often for the last year. "_They,_" she spat, "let him come visit her for her third birthday last month. She was so happy to see her daddy again."

His cerulean eyes looked up from some Clan's request for him to provide a Genin team to clean off their walls from a prank that young Iruka-kun had pulled and saw Ryuuma's face turn peaceful as she closed her eyes. "You really love your daughter, don't you?"

"Could any parent say no to that?" the young mother answered him prophetically. Her green eyes shone in the noon-day sun as she continued, "I love my daughter with everything I am and ever will be. I don't care about how _they_ refuse to accept her, all I want to see is my little girl smile and be happy, and I'll do _anything_ to see it happen."

The new father could only nod in agreement to the young woman's insightful words. "I may not have been one for long, but I agree with you. As a parent, I only wish to see my son be happy and be able to grow up the way his mother wished him to, and I would move mountains if that's what it took."

"You said it as a joke," Ryuuma jibed, "but _you_ probably _could_ move a mountain yourself."

"Move one? Nah?" he dismissed easily. "Destroy one? Probably – if I really wanted to."

The young mother shook her head with a grin on her face. "Only you would joke about being that powerful. Well, you and your sensei of course."

"Sensei would just summon Gamabunta to sit on the mountain," he joked with her like they always did. "I'd actually _try_ to find a way to blow it up. Maybe I'd call it my: 'Completely Obliterate Anything as Large as a Mountain jutsu. What do you think?"

"I may not have made Chuunin before I was forced to retire early," she answered flatly, "but even I know that's a terrible name."

"Then what would you call it, Ms. 'I can Name Jutsu Better than You?'" Minato pouted.

"I don't know," she admitted. Maybe 'Mountain Destroyer' or something like that. It's a lot simpler than what you came up with."

Minato sulked and his assistant's melodious laughter echoed within his office. _First Kushina, then sensei, and now even Ryuuma. I get no respect at all._

The blonde man looked up and saw his young assistant laughing. He had to admit, she was a very beautiful woman, and any man lucky enough to have her fall in love with them would be on the receiving end of many jealous stares.

Over the time he'd gotten to know Ryuuma, Minato had come to see her as a little sister, and he'd become just a _little_ protective of her during that time. If anyone even _tried_ to hurt the young woman with him around, they would be subjected to a terrifying site: The Yellow Flash pissed. Very few times had it happened, but people quickly learned to get out of his way any time Minato had actually lost his temper. Usually it involved quite a large amount of Killing Intent – about enough to make most ANBU run in fear, a few _specially placed _kunai, and seventeen feet of diamond-strength rope.

Needless to say, people stopped making fun of Ryuuma whenever the Hokage was around, and Ryuuma hadn't needed his help on that front ever since.

So whoever she fell for had _better_ treat her right, or there'll be another 'Tri-Pronged Cherry Head.'

"Well, I don't wanna keep you away from your _duty_ as Hokage for any longer," she finally said to him after finishing laughing. "I'd better get back to _my_ job before people start calling me Ms. Hatake for being late to help 'em."

"You're missing a mask, silver hair that somehow defies gravity, and a deep-seeded desire to make everyone wait on you," Minato quipped at her.

Ryuuma chuckled at him. "Yeah, I guess so. Let me know if you need anything else, Hokage-sama."

"Of course," he replied.

The green-eyed young woman then walked to the door, and as she opened it she froze where she stood.

"Uchiha-san," his assistant greeted stiffly. Minato inwardly groaned. "Might I ask as to your purpose to see Hokage-sama?"

"You may," the kind voice of Mikoto Uchiha answered her. If she was put-off or offended by Ryuuma's greeting, she didn't show it. "As Kushina's best friend and Maid of Honor at their wedding, I'd like to request an audience with Hokage-sama."

"You can come in Mikoto," Minato spoke up loud enough for them both to hear him before Ryuuma could tell her to try again later. "All I've got keeping me company now that Ryuuma's leaving me is a sleeping baby and a stack of papers that doesn't seem to want to go away, and I need to speak to you anyways. This is just more convenient since you came here first. Ryuuma-san?" he called.

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"Please hold any other guests who arrive outside until Uchiha-san and I are finished," he requested. "I'll be activating the Privacy Seals, so nobody will be able to get in anyways, but it's best to tell you now."

"Very well, Hokage-sama," the green-eyed woman acknowledged through gritted teeth. "As you wish. Pardon me, Uchiha-san," she finished as she briskly walked past Mikoto.

"Have a good day, Ryuuma-san," Mikoto said politely. Ryuuma didn't offer a response as the Uchiha woman closed the doors behind her as she entered the Hokage's office.

Minato went though the required hand seals and activated the seals around his office. If he had to guess by the carefully neutral expression on the Uchiha matriarch's face, then he was in for it.

"Take a seat, Mikoto," he offered to her kindly with a gesture to the empty seat directly across from him.

"No thanks," she refused politely. "I'd prefer to stand at the moment."

_I'm _really_ in for it now,_ Minato realized with a slight wince. "How can I help you today then?"

"You can start," she answered him with one of her _dangerously_ sweet smiles, "by explaining why there's ANBU watching the Uchiha Compound."

_Crap,_ he began to sweat. _She noticed after all._

"I don't think Fugaku has noticed them yet," the black-haired beauty continued on, "but as a former ANBU myself, I know all the tricks. So please, if you will Minato-kun."

_Kushina and Mikoto really are like sisters, sensei,_ Minato noticed. Kushina would be the younger, brash one who would beat you senseless and yell at you until your ears bled, and Mikoto was the older, calmer sibling whose smile made you run for cover as soon as possible. _Demon sisters,_ he amended with a small shiver. "Uh…" he tried weakly. "I don't know what you're talking about?"

"Come now, Minato-kun," she said sweetly. "I'd hate for some of those ANBU to have an _accident_ while on the job."

The blue-eyed Hokage let out a tired sigh. "Fine," he relented. "You win. However, what I'm about to tell you is a SS-Class secret that only myself and Jiraiya-sensei know about – not even the Council was told what I'm about to tell you."

Mikoto gave him a resolute nod and waited for him to begin.

As he recounted his tale of his encounter with the Masked Man once more, she never interrupted him. She'd gasped when he told her of how the Kyuubi had been forcibly removed from Kushina, but aside from her black eyes widening every once in a while she never showed any reaction to the story at all.

When at last he got to who the Masked Man had claimed to be Mikoto actually interrupted. "I'm sorry," she interjected calmly. "Did you just say that this 'Masked Man' claimed to be _the_ Madara Uchiha?"

"He didn't deny it when I asked him," Minato answered her.

"That's ridiculous!" she exclaimed. "Madara Uchiha perished nearly fifty years ago when he fought Hashirama Senju at the Valley of the End! Everyone knows this!"

"I know that," he told the black-haired woman. "Sensei and I talked about it, and we came to the conclusion that he wasn't the _real _Madara, but someone who probably studied under him. However, when he and I fought, his inexperience showed. So we think that he hasn't been this strong for very long."

Mikoto's eyes narrowed at him dangerously. "And just why does that entail ANBU keeping tabs on my Clan?"

"Because I think that there might be a traitor within the Uchiha, alright?" Minato nearly shouted at her in frustration.

Mikoto's eyes were as wide as saucers as she heard his declaration. "Just… Just what are you basing that on?" she managed to ask him.

"A few things." The Hokage then began listing his reasoning. "One, when I talked to your husband after the Council meeting last night, he told me that the training operation that your clan partook in _just before_ the Kyuubi was unleashed was proposed to him, but he couldn't remember who told him about it. Two, the Masked Man that night was in possession of a Sharingan and was able to use it in ways I haven't even _heard _of before, Mikoto. Thirdly, the only person to have ever been able to hold the Kyuubi under their control has only ever been Madara Uchiha, so it isn't too much of a stretch for the Masked Man to also be an Uchiha.

"Add all these up, and the most likely answer is that this Masked Man is a true-born Uchiha – from _your_ clan," he finished with confidence to spare.

"But can't he just be an Uchiha who's left Konoha and come back for vengeance?" Mikoto protested further.

"Then you tell me," Minato requested sternly, "how many Uchiha have gone rogue in the last twenty years who haven't already been taken care of. You are the Clan Head's wife, so you should know it."

The raven-haired woman lowered her head as she admitted hesitantly, "None. There is one who exists outside the Clan, but they're watching them closely at the moment." She fell into the previously offered chair and buried her face in her hands. "I just… I just don't want to believe it, Minato."

"If it's any consolation," Kushina's husband told her, "neither do I. However, I can't discount the facts, and it's my job as Hokage to discover and remove threats to Konoha. Whether they be from outside, or even within Konoha's walls."

"What about your Hiraishin?" Mikoto asked him as she looked up with hope in her eyes. "You told me and Kushina that the Seal Formula never fades, right? If that's true then you can find this traitor and kill him right now, can't you?"

"I'm afraid that won't work anymore," Minato revealed to her. "While the Hiraishin Formula doesn't fade, it can be destroyed – that's why I inscribed them on my kunai. Four days ago, I felt the seal I'd placed on him disappear. My guess is that, when he realized that I'd survived the attack, he removed the seal from his body so that I wouldn't be able to locate him anymore. And with his teleportation jutsu, he could be anywhere right now."

"Then why watch us?" Mikoto demanded. "If he could be anywhere, then why come back to the place he'd tried to destroy?"

"Because nobody knows who he is!" he informed her harshly. "Because he's after the Kyuubi! And it just-so-happens that the very beast he's trying to control is _inside my son_! I _will not_ let him have my child Mikoto! He's all I have left of Kushina!"

"You…You mean," she stammered in shock as she heard his declaration, "Naruto-kun is the new Jinchuuriki?"

The blonde man took a deep breath to calm himself before he answered, "Yes. Naruto is the new Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. And it's because of that fact that I can't trust anyone other than you in the Uchiha Clan, Mikoto, as I know for certain that you'd have never tried to hurt Kushina. You once told Kushina and me that – should anything happen to her – you'd help protect Naruto, regardless of the threat, like he was your own. Can I still hold you to that promise?"

"You're asking me to keep Naruto safe from my own Clansmen, aren't you?" the Uchiha woman asked bitterly.

Minato ran a hand through his hair and began to feel exhaustion pulling at him again. "Yes," he answered her simply. "I'm asking you if you are willing to place Kushina's legacy and child above your own family, Mikoto. I _really_ wish I didn't need to, but I _have_ to know your honest answer…for Naruto's sake."

The raven-haired Uchiha matriarch sat there in silence. She clutched her hands over her lap and dropped her gaze to her lap. She remained that way for a few more moments in contemplative silence.

"I… Kushina wasn't the only person who grew up alone," Mikoto eventually began. "As I was the daughter and only child of the previous Clan Head, I was sequestered away from the other children my age. They told me that they didn't want me to be _tainted_ by someone unworthy. The only people I was even allowed to see until I went to the Academy were my father, the Clan Elders, and my fiancé – Fugaku – growing up.

"Fugaku was kind to me whereas my father and the Elders were all distant. He always worked hard to make me smile, but he never could get me to laugh. My husband was raised to always show me the respect I deserved so as to not make me hate him, ever. I've grown to love him: He's a loving father – albeit a bit demanding at times, a good Clan Head who always prioritizes the Clan above his own desires, and a good husband.

"But a friend he is not.

"When I met Kushina, I was a stuck-up brat who honestly believed that the Uchiha were superior to the rest because of our Sharingan. Looking back, I can't think on why I actually did. I guess it was because that was what everyone I happened to know kept on spewing to me. 'The Uchiha are the greatest,' they'd kept telling me.

"The thing is: I was so obsessed with my own superiority that I never realized how _lonely_ I was. Being the daughter of the Head of such a prestigious and dangerous Clan was enough to intimidate anyone else enough that they never even tried to talk to me for fear of retaliation. I'd told myself that it didn't really matter because they were all inferior.

"Kushina really was the wake-up call I needed," she related with a fond smile. "When she told everyone that she'd become the Hokage – right in front of the entire class – I laughed right along with everyone else. 'If anyone can become Hokage, it'll be me,' I thought. It was supposed to be _my right_ as an Uchiha to just take whatever I wanted, the Hokage position was no exception.

"But Kushina showed me just how wrong I really was. She flat out dismantled me right in front of the whole class in our first spar. Do you remember that, Minato?" she included him for the first time since beginning her story.

Minato briefly smiled as the memory came to him and replied, "I do. It was quite the spectacle."

Mikoto snorted before correcting him, "You mean ass-whooping. I was never even able to land a blow, and she left me black-and-blue before sensei called the match in Kushina's favor. I'd never been so _mad_ before she'd beat me. Everything was meant to be mine – or so I'd thought. I was never supposed to lose to anyone other than my father in our training sessions.

"After that, I dedicated myself to my training. I refused to ever be made a fool again like she'd done to me. Every day, I trained myself to the point of exhaustion with the only thought in my head being, 'I won't lose.'

"But I did. Over and over. Year after year she beat me every spar we ever had. I'd become so frustrated that it got to the point where I briefly considered poisoning her food the day before our spars just so that I could finally beat her.

"Then one day, two months after I turned eleven, a few Genin ambushed me when I was alone on one of the training grounds. It turned out that my father had their fathers arrested for some bullshit reason and they wanted revenge. They couldn't go after my father though – he'd destroy them, so they went for the next-best thing. Me.

"I was able to hold my own for a little while, until one of them managed to sneak up behind and grab my wrists. He held me as the other two each told me about how they were going to show my father what happened when he oversteps his authority like he did. I closed my eyes and waited for the beating that was now unavoidable, but it never came.

"Looking back at it again, I think that was when I stopped believing in 'Uchiha superiority.'

"Once I opened my eyes, I saw a flash of red and then the one holding my wrists was knocked away. I caught the fist of the one about to punch me and then Kushina had jumped over me and his face met the heel of her boot. She then shouted at them all, 'Only _I_ get to kick her ass! So move it!' The poor boys turned tail and ran at the sight of the Habenero. Kushina had then just given me her toothy smile and asked if I was okay.

"I didn't know why she did it, so I asked. She just blinked at me in confusion before telling me at the top of her voice, 'Cause we're friends, dattebane!'

"I was shocked, to say the least. There I had been, thinking only of how to beat her senseless and make her admit I was the better of us, and she thought of me as a friend – now that I think about it though, I think that she meant to say _rival_, but I'm not complaining.

"After I'd gotten over my shock at someone calling me their friend, I treated her to lunch to show my gratitude for her saving me. We got to talking, and I soon found out that we were both actually alike. We both liked a lot of the same stuff – we even gossiped a bit about you, Minato," she teased, causing the Hokage to briefly flush. "Even if you hadn't saved her yet, you were still a cute boy with a nice body.

"After all that, I finally realized how alone I'd always felt but ignored it, and then it hit me that Kushina was even worse off than I was. She had to continually deal with bullies because of her hair, and nobody dared to touch me for fear of my father. The fact that 'the dope with the red hair' was able to act happy, even while going through all of that, struck me deep.

"Next thing I know, I'm best friends with the Red-Hot-Blooded Habenero and the second member of the Red-and-Black Demon Twins of the Academy. I'd smiled before I met Kushina, but I'd never _laughed _before. My times with her: Being a Genin together under Tsunade-sama, both our weddings, and all the times the two of us just hung out together and gave the Hokage headaches. All of those and plenty more will forever remain in my heart, and I owe Kushina more than I could ever try to repay for making me feel _happy_, not just content."

"What is your answer, Mikoto?" Minato asked her once she finished.

The raven-haired woman took a deep breath before fixing him with a level gaze, fire burning behind her black, pupil-less eyes. She answered him, "I'll do it. I'll take care of Naruto and raise him like my own son. And," she added quietly, "I'll protect him just as Kushina would've. Even from my own family."

* * *

It had been about an hour since Mikoto had left his office.

After the heavy conversation that they'd shared, she and Minato had sat there during the emotional fall-down and engaged in simple small talk, for the most part. They asked each other about what they'd been doing during the past week – turned out her new son's name was Sasuke. She'd asked him about Naruto and his first impressions of parenthood – she'd fallen out of her chair laughing when he told her of the 'Genjutsu Incident of the Infantile Genius-Child Naruto,' as he'd named it. Mikoto had also asked about any of Naruto's habits, but he decided to be vague about them, much to her annoyance, and let her figure them out for herself – she deserved it after laughing even harder at the Incident's name.

The conversation had then taken a slightly tenser turn when the Uchiha woman had inquired about Ryuuma and her daughter. Minato knew that his wife's friend had been against what happened to his assistant, but it wasn't his place to talk about Ryuuma to her. So he'd simply told her that if she was, indeed, genuinely curious then she should ask Ryuuma directly, much to the Uchiha woman's dismay.

Mikoto had left soon after, but as she left he heard a small, "Not all of us hate you, Ryuuma," as the Uchiha matriarch went by his assistant's desk.

Minato ran a hand down his face as he just _knew_ his assistant would take it the wrong way, _again_. Ryuuma was a bright young woman, but when it came to her mother's old family, she was as dense as a rock.

The Hokage sighed for what felt like the thousandth time today as he set yet _another_ sheet of paper in the 'Out' pile. He looked up and rubbed his hurting eyes as he noticed that there were now two, equally large piles of papers on his desk.

"Wonderful," he grumbled. "The day's nearly over and I'm just _now_ halfway done." His head fell on top of his desk, sending a few papers scattering and slowly floating to the ground. "If I'd have known how much paperwork there was really going to be," he whined, "I would've told Sarutobi to keep the job."

"Hokage-sama," a muffled voice that must've been an ANBU called to him.

Minato turned his head without lifting it from the desk to look at his office's newest arrival. He felt a paper stick to his left cheek and bend over as it lost its support. He imagined this would make Kushina break out in a fit of giggles, but he didn't care as he asked the ANBU, "What is it, Anbu-san?"

"Taka's team has arrived in Konoha with Primary Objective One in custody," the female ANBU reported dutifully.

His blue eyes widened in amazement as he felt the paper on his face finally fall off. "Well that was quick," he stated. "Where were they?"

"Primary Objective One was located on one of the abandoned islands in Umi no Kuni (Land of Sea)," the ANBU woman informed him. "Primary Objective Two had escaped before Taka's team could locate. They believe that their target had left the island at least three days before they arrived."

"So he abandoned her, huh?"

"It appears so, Hokage-sama," the ANBU agreed. "There is also one other thing that Taka reported which I believe you should be aware of."

"Very well," the Hokage acknowledged Shishi's knowledge. "Well, don't keep me in the suspense. What else is there?"

"Inu reported upon his inspection the presence of odd 'markings' at the base of the target's neck. He believed it to be some sort of seal, I think."

"Oh, crap," Minato realized what had occurred. "Where has Primary Objective One been taken," he ordered.

"To Interrogation Chamber Three, Hokage-sama."

The blonde Hokage closed his eyes and sighed before ordering, "Tell the personnel near Chamber Three that I'll personally perform the questioning. This is a delicate situation, and if what I suspect has occurred then forcing the matter will only be detrimental to the matter at-large."

"Of course," the kunoichi nodded before vanishing in a swirl of leaves.

Minato stood up from his desk and walked over to his office's doors. He opened them and poked his head out and around to see Ryuuma sitting at her desk while intently glaring at a sheet of paper in front of her like she was willing it to catch fire. "Hey, Ryuuma?" he called meekly.

"Hmm?" His sudden appearance must've startled her. "Oh, it's you, Hokage-sama. What do you need?"

"Something's just come up," he told her carefully in order to not reveal too much, "and I'm needed for awhile. You've done such a great job whenever I needed you to before, so…"

"You want me to finish your paperwork and watch Naruto while you go take care of it, right?" she finished for him.

"Yeah," he answered sheepishly. "It'll probably be at least an hour, so I'm gonna trust you to do it like I would."

"I got it," Ryuuma sighed in resignation. "Go take care of it. I'll handle little Naruto and your paperwork for you. I've already gone over it once, so it should be easy."

"Thanks," the blonde man brightened and gave her a smile in gratitude. "Be back in a bit!"

Minato then activated the Hiraishin and teleported directly to the entryway of the Interrogation Division. He walked in and went directly to Interrogation Chamber Three's single, unmarked door. As he approached, he noticed two ANBUs speaking together in hushed tones.

"…looked like she hadn't eaten in days when we found her," Taka reported to his superior. "She collapsed right as we arrived."

"Thanks for the report, Taka," the other ANBU said. The masked man then turned and noticed Minato's presence, "Hokage-sama!"

Both of the ANBUs fell to their knees in the traditional fashion. "Shishi informed us that you would be handling the interrogation personally," Taka told him.

"Is anyone else in the room?" the blonde Hokage asked.

"There is a medic-nin with ANBU clearance, Hokage-sama," the other ANBU answered. "She was a part of Taka's team, and is present should you require her assistance."

"Very well," Minato acknowledged with a nod. "I'll take care of Mitarashi-san's questioning. I don't think she was aware of Orochimaru's status as a nuke-nin when they left two months ago. Therefore, this won't be classified as an interrogation, but just a questioning. Understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" both of the ANBU before him chorused together.

"Good," he nodded appreciatively. "Taka, you and your team performed admirably to finish the mission as quickly as you did. You and your team may go home. I shall call if you're needed."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Taka bowed before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

"What is Mitarashi-san's current status?" Minato asked the remaining ANBU.

"She appears to be confused, Hokage-sama, and also not far from hysteria," the ANBU informed him. "During the preliminary questioning, Mitarashi-san wasn't able to answer many of the questions that Taka asked of her. We believe that the trauma she's feeling at the discovery of Orochimaru's true nature, as well as the shock at being abandoned by a man she has always admired, is forcing her mind into temporary memory-suppression."

"Alright," the blonde shinobi took all this information in, his own mind beginning to form other possible explanations. "I would like you to go and collect dinner for myself and Mitarashi-san. Dango, if I remember correctly, is her favorite dish."

"Roger that." The ANBU then disappeared.

Minato walked over to the unmarked door and slowly opened it.

As the Interrogation Division was mostly underground, the Chamber he entered had no windows. The room was spacious, but the only furniture present was a single chair in the middle of the room. The only light was coming from the glowing Chakra Suppression Seal on the room's floor.

Sitting on the chair in the middle of the green light was a young Anko Mitarashi. As she sat there, the young girl was continually shifting in the no doubt uncomfortable chair and fidgeting nervously. Her head was looking at her lap, with her violet bangs covering her eyes from sight.

_Poor girl,_ he thought sadly as he stepped into the room. _She looks close to tears._ "Mitarashi-san," he called to her gently as he closed the door behind him.

Anko nearly jumped out of her chair when she heard him. Her eyes were wide, fearful, and panicky as she looked up from her lap at him. "H-H-Hokage-sama!" she seemed to go further into hysterics once she realized who it was who would be questioning her.

"Yes, Mitarashi-san," he answered her softly. "It's me. Can I call you Anko?" At her small nod he asked, "Do you know why you're here, Anko-chan?"

"O-Orochimaru," she hiccupped.

"That's right," he told her gently.

"I… I swear I didn't know sensei had been doing all those experiments!" she exclaimed with a noticeable hint of desperation in her voice. "But nobody believes me!"

"Shh," Minato hushed her like a father would. "I believe you, Anko-chan."

"You… You do?" her eyes were hopeful as she stared at him.

"I do, Anko-chan," the Hokage reassured her gently. "Orochimaru fooled everyone, even my own sensei. So of course I'd believe an honest girl like yourself."

The hope in the twelve-year-old girl's brown eyes changed to relief after he'd told her that. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," she said gratefully. "It's so nice that someone actually believes me for once."

Minato flashed her a kind grin. "It is nice, isn't it?" A few knocks came from the door and he realized, "Oh! That must be our dinner. Dango is still your favorite, right, Anko-chan?"

The girl's eyes widened briefly before grinning at him and answering him, "You're damn right!"

The blonde man merely chuckled at the quick turn-around. He retrieved the dango from the ANBU and, after thanking him and sending him on his way, walked out to Anko.

He sat down on the floor in front of the girl and patted the ground to his right. "You can sit here, if you'd like. I get the feeling that the floor's actually more comfortable than that chair anyway."

The young girl bolted out of the chair and plopped down at his side so fast that the man known as the Yellow Flash wasn't even able to actually see her move. He just blinked at the now-empty seat in shock. He'd never seen anyone move that fast for dango before.

"Dango, dango, dango," Anko chanted merrily while leaning from side-to-side. It would appear that he'd severely underestimated her love for dango.

It nearly rivaled his own love for ramen at her age!

"How long has it been since you got dango?" Minato began casually as he began to set out their dinner.

"Two months," she answered easily. "That was when sensei and I…" She stopped and became depressed again when she realized what she was about to say.

"It's okay, Anko-chan," the blonde father assured the girl again. "Here," he offered her a stick of dango to cheer her up. As she took it from him, he told her, "We don't need to talk about him if you don't want to."

"Thanks," she smiled at him gratefully. The violet-haired girl then bit down on the dango and her body shuddered. She lowered her eyes and her hair covered her eyes from his site again.

A few choked sobs reached Minato's ears, causing him to worry.

"What's wrong, Anko-chan?" he asked with concern.

"It's so good!" she yelled as she raised her head, anime tears waterfalling down her face. "This has to be the most delicious thing I've ever tried! The texture, the spices, it's all perfect! Oh, absence really _does_ make the heart grow fonder!"

Minato nervously chuckled, unsure of what to say after that declaration. _She sorta reminds me of Kushina,_ he thought fondly.

"Hokage-sama?" Anko's voice slightly cracked as she asked, "What's… What's gonna happen to me now?"

The blue-eyed father let out a sigh before telling her, "That all depends on you now."

"It's just…" she tried. "I really _don't _remember much of anything from the last month. Sensei…"

"If it's any help," Minato offered her, "it usually helps me when I talk about whatever has got me down. You never know, maybe it'll work for you too."

"I… Thanks, Hokage-sama," she smiled up at him affectionately. She put her finished dango stick back into the take-out bag and then leaned back into her hands behind her. "Sen – Orochimaru was my world for so long. I loved him like the father I'd never had growing up – I was an orphan, ya know?"

Minato nodded to her and added, "Sensei and I were orphans too. And if there's any pattern here, then you should be a great kunoichi yourself one day."

"I doubt I'll ever be as strong as you or Jiraiya-sama," she admitted with a sad smile. "But I appreciate it, all the same.

"When he took me in as his apprentice, I'd felt so proud and accomplished. 'A _Sannin_ wants me!' I'd thought. I beat out everyone in my class –even those stuck-up Hyuugas and those Uchiha pricks – and he chose _me_ over them all.

"He gave me a home to come back to for the first time, someone who listened to my problems and offered advice when nobody else would. He told me that he saw great potential in me, and that's why he chose me. He showed me so many things and taught me so many different jutsu – he even let me sign and keep the Snake Contract!"

Minato's eyes actually widened in astonishment once he heard that. Jiraiya had also allowed him to sign with the toads a while ago, but the Sannin kept the Contract with him. Either Orochimaru had truly cared about and trusted Anko, or he simply didn't think he needed to carry the Snake Contract around anymore. It wasn't like the pale-man to allow his own abilities to anyone else.

"So you're a Snake Summoner?" he asked her with a hint of wonder.

"Mmhm!" she confirmed with a hum and bright nod. "I had the Contract in a Sealing Scroll when ANBU found me, but they took everything when they left me here."

"I'll make sure you get it back," Minato assured her. "You have no idea how good it is that the Snakes can stay within Konoha." _But if I know Orochimaru,_ he silently added ominously,_ he'll already have another way to do the same thing._

"Really?" Anko asked him with a bit of amazement present in her brown eyes.

"Yep," he told her. "If you weren't a Chuunin already, I'd offer it to you as a reward. I guess I'll need to find another way to show you how great a service that is to Konoha."

"You-You don't need to do that," the girl said to him hurriedly. "I don't think I did anything really. I'm pretty sure that Sen – Orochimaru forgot about it when he left me."

As Anko went stiff after she'd realized what she had just admitted, Minato's mind was abuzz with the possibilities that this development could lead to. _She says she can't remember anything from the last month,_ he reiterated to himself,_ yet she knows that he left her._

"He… He did leave me," Anko shakily admitted again. Her jaw tightened in anger before she shouted, "First he put this damned _thing_ on my neck as a test, and then _abandons _me because I 'don't have the drive for strength!' He told me that this damned seal was a test, and I was the only one strong enough to survive it, yet he says I don't have it!? I swear I'll kill him for that!"

In her anger, Anko's chakra was flaring, even with the Chakra Suppression Seal still active, and she was letting out enough Killing Intent that even the Hokage was feeling it. Not enough to do anything to him, but the fact that he could even _feel_ it made Anko's latent potential obvious to him.

One of his blonde eyebrows arched in curiosity as he figured, _I guess that there really was a reason for Orochimaru choosing her as his apprentice. If this is her current level as a Chuunin – and only twelve-years old at that, then she can really become a fine kunoichi rather easily. A few more years of training and she might even become an A-Class like Kakashi._

_This doesn't add up,_ Minato realized. _Orochimaru has the charisma and the silver-tongue to make someone like Anko follow him into the very gates of Hell itself. He'd also never throw away such a potentially-powerful ally as her; it's not like him at all. If this 'seal' is what I think it is, then I believe I know what has happened here, but I need to know a few more things first._

"…and then I'll feed his testicles to Manda's brats for this!"

Minato paled at the rather gruesome methods that Anko was describing in her anger. It would seem that the former apprentice of the Snake Sannin had quite the sadistic streak herself. "Uh… Anko-chan?" he began weakly.

"…and once I've – yes, Hokage sama?"

"What _do _you remember of the last month?" he queried. "ANBU found you on a deserted island in Umi no Kuni. Do you know why you were there?"

The violet-haired Chuunin shook her head and hummed in the negative. "It's all pretty much a blank," she answered him in a whisper. "I remember sen – Orochimaru – and me getting on a boat, and the next thing I remember is when he put this," she gestured to the nape of her neck, "on me."

"Would you mind if I look at it?" the blonde man asked. "I happen to know a bit about seals myself, you know?" he told her with a grin.

"Would… Would you?" Anko asked, her voice holding both hope and desperation.

"Of course," he assured her.

She quickly pulled her collar down and exposed the base of her neck to him. Minato leaned over and sucked in a sharp breath as he saw it.

The Cursed Seal of Heaven.

When Hiruzen had raided the lab Orochimaru had been in two months prior, Minato had led a team into another lab in pursuit of the culprit behind the abductions – in hindsight, Minato wished that he'd been the one to find Orochimaru, but the past can't be changed. The Yondaime's team had located over two hundred scrolls written by the Snake Sannin on the ability to harness Senjutsu chakra and a way to allow anyone the chance to use the natural energy around them to enhance their abilities. The initial reports had greatly impressed the Seal Master, as he'd been told by the Elder Toads that his body wouldn't be able to withstand the Sennin Training on Myoboku – he'd been disappointed, but he focused on other means to become stronger. It seemed like the pale man had a similar mindset himself, but Minato wasn't impressed for long.

The lab's scrolls went on to reveal a connection between the synapses in a human's brains and their chakra coils and how to manipulate a person by enhancing certain areas of the mind designed to feel emotions – whether positive or negative. It was in these scrolls that the mad scientist elaborated on how to connect the senjutsu filter into the aforementioned areas of the brain, leading to a subtle – but not absolute – kind of mind control.

The method Orochimaru had – for the most part – finished up to that point had been named by its creator as the Cursed Seal of Heaven.

Had Orochimaru not begun exploring the concept of mind control with his juuinjutsu, Minato would've congratulated the Sannin for its creation. It truly was a wondrous creation that could've completely revolutionized Konoha's military. If the methods to create the Seal had been in the lab, Minato could've tweaked the design enough to take away the mind control and still allow the senjutsu filter, but none of the scrolls spoke about how to create one. Because of that, Minato'd been forced to abandon that idea and ordered all evidence be destroyed before they left the lab in order to prevent anyone from ever finding that knowledge and trying to create one themselves.

Now the only people with the knowledge of how the juuinjutsu worked were the Yondaime and the Seal's creator, Orochimaru. And the Hokage had no intention of ever letting that knowledge out.

He finally asked, "Has it acted up at all?"

Anko removed her hand and answered, "Yeah. I felt it activate a little when I was angry earlier."

"How did you feel when it did?"

"In all honesty," she revealed, "I felt amazing. It felt like I could actually take on the bastard who gave it to me and kick his sorry ass six ways to Sunday and back. It hurt a little, but I eventually felt like I was high with the power I felt."

_So he did finish it,_ Minato realized. _And he linked it to anger, at least. That means that, when activated, the Seal fuels the emotion that activated it. However, a seal that relies on willpower can be countered with another._

"Can… Can you do anything, Hokage-sama?" Anko nearly pleaded. "I think that it's…doing something to me. Ever since it activated, I keep finding myself thinking about getting my revenge on sen – Orochimaru, and I never used to think about revenge before."

"I've been able to gather a little bit of information about this seal," he answered her carefully, "and you're right. I think that it reacts to negative emotions – anger being the strongest – and fuels it with an addictive feeling. But," he continued," Orochimaru's Cursed Seal is heavily reliant upon your will to use it, which is why you feel so good when you use it. What that means is that I can control it and prevent it from activating again with a Containment Seal that is just as reliant on your willpower.

"What that means is that as long as you _don't want _to utilize the Seal, it will remain inactive. That includes moments when you feel extreme levels of emotions like anger or others. Does that make sense?"

"A little… I think," she said hesitantly. She rubbed the back of her neck and grinned sheepishly as she admitted, "A bunch of what you said went over my head, but so long as I don't wanna, this thing won't activate, right?"

"That's the gist of it, yes," Minato confirmed for her. "Do you want me to apply it?"

"Will you?" she excitedly asked. The young girl jumped up and began bouncing up and down as she screamed, "You hear that, you old Snake Bastard!? Your damned seal won't work unless I want it to! And I ain't _ever _using it, just to piss you off!"

Minato sweatdropped as Anko continued to rant on about how she'd never, _ever_ use the seal and prove to Orochimaru how strong she'd become without his damned seal. _She is a _lot_ like Kushina,_ he amended his opinion of her from earlier. As he cleared his throat to regain her attention, she quieted before he said, "Before that, I'd like to check something first."

The violet-haired pre-teen tilted her head to the side in confusion at him. "What is it?" she asked.

"Just hold still for a minute," Minato requested. "This won't take long."

The fuuinjutsu master then stood up, ran a focused detection jutsu, and laid his now-glowing hand atop Anko's head. Once he focused his jutsu on the area of her mind that dealt with memory storage, he found exactly what he was looking for.

"This might hurt for a bit," he informed her as he decided upon his next course of action. "But I've found something that needs to be taken care of now, so just grin and bear it, okay?" Before the confused girl could answer him, he ran through the required hand seals and exclaimed, "Kioku no Henko Fuin, Kai (Memory Altering Seal, Release)!"

As the seal on her memories was shattered, Anko's brown eyes rolled back into her head and she slumped over, unconscious. Minato caught her falling form and slowly laid her limp body on the floor.

The Hokage then called the medic-ANBU over to look at the unconscious girl and to let him know if anything was wrong. After a few moments of running diagnostic jutsu, the medic reported to him that Anko's mind hadn't been damaged, but it had forced her into unconsciousness in order for it to sort through which memories were real and which were false. He thanked the ANBU and then dismissed her. He finally sat back down and waited for the young girl to wake up on her own.

After around a half-hour of patiently waiting, Anko finally stirred. She let out a pained moan as she slowly sat up and rubbed her forehead. "What happened?" she absently asked.

"I noticed the presence of a seal on your memories," Minato answered her, "and removed it. It was all pretty sudden, so you passed out."

"Memory seal?" she sleepily drawled. "What are you –" Her eyes went wide as she realized the truth that he spoke. "You're right! I remember everything now!"

"Now if you don't mind I'd – oomph!" he grunted as the young girl bowled him over in a bone-crushing hug.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" she said to him happily. "Now I won't have to wonder for the rest of my life! You have _no idea_ how grateful I am for that, Hokage-sama!" she told him with the edges of her eyes beginning to water.

"I didn't do much," the blonde attempted to modestly talk his deed down – like Kushina always told him he did too much of. "All I did was let you remember the last month, and nothing could've affected you this much."

The violet-haired Chuunin shook her head and hummed another denial of his statement. "No, I'm not thankful for that," she revealed to him "To be honest, I saw and did some things that I'd rather not remember, but what really happened makes up for it all."

"What do you mean, Anko-chan?" he asked curiously.

"That I wasn't abandoned!" she exclaimed as loud as she could. "That _I_ left _him, _not the other way around!"

The blue eyes of the Hokage widened in amazement. He hadn't expected that. "What really happened then, Anko?"

"Well," she began to recount, "after he put this," she gestured to her neck, "on me, he locked me in a shed to see if I'd survive. I did, as you can see, and he came to check on me the next day. We talked for a bit, but I realized what he'd really become after everything he'd done cleared up for me. So when he offered me power if I came with him, _I turned him down_! I _chose_ to leave him!"

"That's great, Anko-chan!" Minato joined her in her celebration.

"I know! I know!" she agreed excitedly. "I owe you _so_ much for this, Hokage-sama! Please, ask me anything and I'll do it for you!"

The blonde man laid an affectionate hand atop the young kunoichi's head and chuckled in a hint of amusement at her antics. "All I ask is that you're loyal to Konoha and always do your best," he said to her. "If you do that, then I'll be satisfied."

"But that's not _nearly_ enough!" Anko protested vehemently. She grabbed her chin in a thoughtful pose and mumbled, "Now what can I do to prove how much this means to me?"

Minato simply smiled and shook his head. The girl was hell-bent on proving her gratitude, and it was obvious that any attempt to dissuade her wouldn't work. _Okay,_ he thought._ She _has _to be related to Kushina. Maybe a distant cousin or something. There's no way they can be so alike and not be._

"I've got it!" Anko exclaimed as she slammed her fist into her open palm. "I overheard a few of the ANBU saying your kid was born a few days ago, is that right?"

Minato made a mental reminder to remind Kakashi on how to keep information secret before saying, "I have a son. His name is Naruto."

"Great!" she chirped. "That means this can work then!" She then went serious as she held her fist directly in front of her and pointed at him and promised him, "I, Anko Mitarashi, hereby promise you that I will work up the ranks and - when your son is able – I will take on Naruto as my personal apprentice and teach him all I know. Whether it be a technique I have learned under Orochimaru, or one I create myself, I will offer it to your child. This is my solemn vow to you, Hokage-sama, for the deed you have just performed for me."

Minato was stunned at the eloquence and the depth of the vow she just made to him. It would be detrimental if he were to deny her promise to him, as the look in her eyes told him how serious that she really was and how much this promise meant to her.

Eventually, he ruffled her hair in an affectionate gesture and replied, "If you make it to at least a Tokubetsu Jounin rank and are cleared by myself and Jiraiya-sensei when Naruto-kun graduates to Genin, then I'll let you keep your promise to me, Anko-chan."

The blinding smile that was on the young girl's face made a warm feeling claw its way up from his stomach. Even in the green light of the room, her toothy smile made her allude to the beauty that she'd no doubt become soon.

_She's going to be a knockout,_ Minato thought to himself. _Watch out, Naruto-kun._

* * *

**A/N:** You know what? I'm not gonna mince my words this time. I'm just not gonna say anything. This chapter's long enough without me adding so many more words to the tally. If you've got questions, leave 'em in the your review. If what you're asking won't play too much in the eventual plot-line, then I'll answer you, whether it be in a PM or in a review shout-out next chapter.

You all are smart enough to figure out what happened here (at least I hope so) so I'm not gonna reiterate it.

No.

Bad dripley11. That's how you've gotten your Notes so long.

No more.

Later all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

* * *

"The Chuunin Exam Finals are next week, Minato," Jiraiya informed him. "If you don't get a move on soon, then that Genin – Ebisu, if I remember right – won't have his Hokage's support."

"I know that, sensei," Minato told the Sannin again. "And I'll tell you again, my escort has already left, and they'll throw my kunai when they're a day away from Suna. That way I'll still be able to hold onto tradition and arrive with the whole diplomatic spiel."

"I don't know if I should be jealous, or exasperated, sensei," Kakashi piped up from his seat next to him. "A Hokage has _always_ traveled to Suna with their escort, but your Hiraishin lets you stay here longer and still not be late."

"So what?" the blonde asked from his stool. "I'm still gonna make it in time, and with my escort, intact."

"What if something happens to the escort on the way?" the white-haired man to his left pointed out. "With you here, then that makes your escorts more susceptible to ambush."

"I've already covered that with them," the Hokage replied, annoyed that his sensei and student wouldn't just let the matter drop so he could enjoy his favorite dish for the first time in a few days. "They know to throw the kunai and I'll be there immediately to help deal with it. I'm not an idiot, sensei."

"No," Jiraiya agreed from his left. "But you're risking a diplomatic incident if the Kazekage came out to greet and escort you before you are supposed to arrive. He could get offended that you aren't there to meet him and call off the alliance."

"I think that getting caught peeping has made you more paranoid than usual, sensei," Minato told him. "As much as he _might_ be offended, he'd never call off the alliance between our villages for that. The last war proved that Suna needs our assistance for now."

"But the Kaze Daimyo preferring Konoha has to be a sore spot for him," Kakashi informed him.

"Kid's got a point, brat," the Sennin said as he slurped some noodles down. "Even if we're allies, that doesn't make us friends. From what I can tell about him, the Yondaime Kazekage is a patriot before all else – which could be why –"

"Sensei," Minato interrupted before the older man could reveal such sensitive information. "As much as I trust Kakashi, you know he doesn't have the clearance for that information."

"Why not?" the Sannin whined. "It would be better for us to let everyone know that. That way everyone'd know to look out for the kid when he gets older."

"We can consider us even _knowing_ a precarious situation," Minato said darkly. "If the Kazekage should take that the wrong way, then he _will_ call off the alliance, or worse, he could plot against us while under the guise of remaining our ally and betray us when we need Suna."

Kakashi rolled his eye and said, "You just said that he wouldn't call off the alliance because Suna _needs _us. You're contradicting yourself, sensei."

"No, actually I'm not," the blue-eyed man corrected his former student. "I said that a simple diplomatic incident wouldn't be enough to make him call it off. However, what sensei is talking about _is_ big enough to accomplish just that. The Kazekage is _very_ secretive, Kakashi, and us knowing a secret like that one is dangerous to his village as a whole."

The lone Jounin present had his lone visible eye widen at that. "Just what could it be?"

"Nothing we can tell you about at the moment," the Yondaime cut in before his sensei could blurt it out for the whole village to know. "Unless the Kazekage gives his approval, I won't jeopardize what little trust exists between us at the moment."

Jiraiya grumbled, "And he calls _me_ the paranoid one."

"You are paranoid, sensei," Minato grinned at the man. "Ever since Naruto got you caught last month you've been even more paranoid than usual."

"That brat's got it in for me, I swear!" Jiraiya yelled in frustration. "Twice I've taken him around the Hot Springs and he's gotten me caught before I could even do any research! And I was gonna teach him about anatomy!"

"Sensei," Minato said evenly. "Remember what Mikoto did to you when she found you the second time?"

"Remember?" the Toad Sage snorted. "Hell, I've still got the scars! She went off the deep end when she saw Naruto; she didn't even believe me when I told her I hadn't done anything yet!"

Kakashi chuckled before saying, "Mikoto-san must really be Tsunade-sama's student if she actually hurt you, Jiraiya-sama."

"You've no idea, brat," the Sannin murmured. "That woman's really bought into the whole mother role. When you told me about it," he directed to his former apprentice, "I admit I was skeptical about it. But she's been a great mother for Naruto so far."

"I told you so," it took a lot of practice and willpower to not look smug as Minato smiled. "I knew she'd take care of Naruto when I couldn't."

Mikoto truly had exceeded any and all expectations Minato had about her. Since becoming Naruto's wet-nurse and semi-mother, Mikoto had soared. After trying to take care of Naruto at her house and having a large spat with Fugaku over it, she'd began bringing Sasuke and Itachi over to the Hokage's mansion in order to keep Naruto out of her husband's reach. If anything, it meant that she was serious about keeping Naruto safe from her own family.

Itachi was beginning to show signs of becoming another genius shinobi at the measly age of six. The young boy had – whenever Minato was able to spend time with the young Uchiha – been impressing Minato with his steadily-developing skills. Under close proximity to the Hokage it seemed he was even more determined to prove himself as a great shinobi, and it wouldn't be long before he was admitted into the Academy and no doubt graduated quickly as well.

But it wasn't just the boy's abilities as a potential shinobi that had the Hokage's interest piqued. Initially, the young Uchiha had been against his mother helping to raise another infant like her own, but little Naruto had changed his mind after only a week. Now, Itachi acted like another older brother to his son – Kakashi being the other. The young Uchiha was almost always hovering over Naruto and Sasuke whenever they were together, and knowing this gave Minato a grin whenever he thought on it.

Not even a year old yet and the kid was turning people who hated him into his family. The Hokage got the feeling that his son would eventually become a dangerous political enemy in his own right, and knowing someone else would be able to keep giving Danzo headaches was a definite plus in his book.

Dealing with the ROOT Commander was another issue that Minato and his old teacher had continually butted heads over for the last few months. Jiraiya favored going right after the 'manipulative old geezer,' as he'd called him, but the blonde Hokage was against that type of action. As much as he didn't like it, Minato knew that Danzo was a patriot who'd never openly betray Konoha.

Minato was well-aware of ROOT's continual existence, even though it was ordered to be disbanded by Sandaime-sama nearly six years ago. However, ROOT was a required existence, and Minato accepted that, as Danzo's followers handled the truly seedier missions that Konoha couldn't afford to be seen doing. The Hokage's ANBU performed nauseating missions on occasion, but ROOT took and completed the ones that would've made every ANBU lose their lunches in disgust.

It was something that made the Hokage grit his teeth in frustration every time he thought about it, but he knew that intervening in it now would not achieve anything positive in the long run. Unless Minato could find a way to prove that Danzo truly _was_ a traitor to Konoha beyond the shadow of a doubt and get rid of him in one swoop, then the bandaged shinobi's political power and influence would keep him alive long enough to throw back a counter-attack, and the blonde father was uncertain if the ROOT members were more loyal to Konoha as a whole or Danzo personally. And Minato knew exactly where Danzo would strike, his weakest point. Naruto.

The father was unwilling to risk Naruto, so he decided it would be best to simply bide his time and wait for Danzo to slip. For a man like the ROOT Commander, who had no lines that he wouldn't cross, it was only a matter of time before he slipped, and Minato would be ready when he finally did.

Danzo was a patient man as well, but Minato had a lot more relying on his winning. It was a game of patience, and the man with a true family refused to lose.

He couldn't let Kushina down.

"…amnit, brat!" You're doing it again!" Jiraiya screamed, drawing him away from his thoughts.

"Sorry, did you say something, sensei?" Minato grinned.

"And Gai wonders where I get it from," the masked youth chuckled as the Sannin huffed.

"Uh!" Jiraiya grunted in frustration. "I've been here, explaining everything I can tell you with Kakashi here about the Kazekage, and you spaced out again!"

"No I didn't," the blonde denied. "I was 'plotting' as you like to say." He continued to grin as his old sensei began to get more and more frustrated. "Don't pop a blood vessel," he assured the Sennin, "I've been prepping for my meeting with the Kazekage for a month now. I'm pretty sure that I know how to handle it, sensei."

"I know that, kid," the white-haired man told him with a small sigh. "I just can't help but worry about you. You may be a genius, but politics is one of the most complicated matters in existence – it's why I don't want your job."

"I'm aware of that, sensei. Then again, you aren't always the most subtle."

"He's got you there, Jiraiya-sama," Kakashi piped up with an eye-smile. "You must really be losing your edge if an infant who can't even speak yet got you caught peeking."

"OI!" the perverted older man protested loudly. "That brat's a genius, I tell you! He didn't make a peep until he saw Mikoto walk in! That kid set me up!"

"Sensei," Minato deadpanned, "you know you're admitting that a _ten-month old_ is smart enough to outwit a member of the Sannin, right?"

Jiraiya raised his hand and opened his mouth to retort him, but froze as he registered what his old student had said. The hand dropped and his face went rigid in shock and horror. The white-haired man stayed still and didn't move at all.

"Sensei, I think you broke him," the silver-haired youth said as he turned back to his own bowl of ramen.

"I think I did, Kakashi," the blonde agreed with his student. He waved his hand in front of the Toad Sage's still-frozen face and noticed no reaction at all. "Well this is new, I didn't think he'd freeze like this unless Tsunade had told him that she loves him." Still no response from the present Sannin (although a certain blonde in a certain town sneezed and scattered all of her current winnings all over the casino). "Damn, he's really out of it."

"Looks like," the young Jounin agreed with him as he set his mask back over his face. The speed at which his former student always finished his food continually left the Hokage baffled. "You gonna finish yours?"

Minato's cerulean eyes blinked as he realized that he hadn't touched his rapidly-cooling bowl of miso ramen and Teuchi had always made the best. "Uh, yeah," he answered before scarfing down his own bowl nearly as fast as Kakashi.

The lone-visible eye of his former student curled up in his eye-smile again as he asked, "Good ramen, eh?"

"Ahh," the blonde let out in satisfaction as he set his chopsticks in the now-empty bowl. "As always, Teuchi-san makes the best in all of Konoha."

"Now I don't know about that, Hokage-sama," the voice of Teuchi Ichiraku came from behind the stove. "My mentor hasn't retired just yet, ya know?"

Minato waved off his modest denial. "Nah. I've had his, and his miso is a little too salty for my tastes. But you always get the balance _just right_, Teuchi-san."

The civilian chef chuckled as he walked back out to them. "Then I should thank Ayame-chan for the tips," he said as he wiped his hands on his apron. "She's got a better eye and taste than me, that's for sure."

"How old is little Ayame-chan now?" Minato asked.

"She'll be six next week."

The twenty-nine year-old Kage clicked his tongue in disappointment. "I'm gonna be in Suna next week," he informed the ramen chef. "Can you tell her that I'm sorry I can't tell her Happy Birthday and that I'll get her a present while I'm there?"

"Oh you don't need to do that," the cook hurriedly assured him. "You've already done so much for us, and I'd hate to further impose."

"It's no problem at all," he answered dismissively. "Besides, didn't she call me 'Uncle Hokage' last week?"

"She did, but –"

"Then it's my job as her uncle to get her an 'I'm Sorry for not Being There on Your Birthday' gift," the blue-eyed man informed the chef.

Teuchi's eyes were as wide as dish-plates as he stuttered, "You-You mean you're not…"

"Angry? Disgusted? Weirded-out?" Minato listed and Teuchi nodded to the last one. "Of course not. I'm starting to see little Itachi-kun as a nephew, and if I saw things right last time…"

"Ah, so you did see," Teuchi said nervously. "Yeah, I think little Ayame-chan has her first crush now, and it looks like Itachi-kun is it."

"That's fine," he said to the shopkeeper. "Actually, when we left last time, Itachi asked me if I knew who 'the girl hiding behind the cook's legs' was. It may not seem like it, but Itachi doesn't ask about someone unless they interest him. And I think I got him flustered when I teased him a little when we got back. So, who knows, maybe Itachi-kun is also developing a slight crush on little Ayame-chan."

"Sensei, you don't need the Sharingan to see that he likes her," Kakashi told him.

"Well, there you have it Teuchi-san," Minato said dramatically. "Straight from Konoha's greatest expert on pre-pubescent inter-sex relationships himself, Kakashi Hatake!"

Teuchi sweatdropped and Kakashi stared at his former teacher. "You know," the masked Jounin said, "I don't think that was necessary, sensei."

"Maybe not," he shrugged. "But I agree with you, Kakashi." He turned to the ramen cook and said mischievously, "Maybe there'll be wedding bells sometime in the future?"

"It's not like that!" a young girl's voice screeched in protest. "I-I don't like Itachi-kun at all," she murmured in embarrassment as everyone turned and noticed Ayame's red face.

"That red face says differently," the young ANBU informed her matter-of-factly.

"It's okay, Ayame-chan," Minato assured the embarrassed girl. "Everybody goes through it – except Kakashi apparently." He whispered to her conspiratorially, "Personally, I think he's gay," causing her to briefly giggle and Kakashi to sputter out a denial. He grinned before finishing, "Some of us – like me – even get to marry our first crush. We're just discussing possibilities here."

"Do you… Do you think that Itachi-kun really likes me?" the young cooks' daughter asked nervously.

"Of course!" Minato answered her with a cheery grin. "Matter-of-fact, I'll make sure Mikoto takes him to your birthday party next week. Sound good?"

The young girl looked at the blonde father with wide, amazed eyes, before nodding furiously.

Teuchi and Minato laughed softly as Ayame quickly retreated back into the Ichiraku's house while yelling, "Mom! Mom! Mom! I need something special to wear for my party!"

"But I've already got you something cute!" the mother yelled back from upstairs.

"But _Itachi's_ coming now!"

The pair of fathers enjoyed a few moments of quiet laughter together before Minato informed everyone that he needed to go check on Naruto and let Mikoto off since he had no paperwork because he was 'officially' with his personal envoy on their way to Suna. Teuchi had chuckled in amusement, obviously hearing the trio's conversation earlier, and Kakashi had rolled his eye. The Hokage then activated his Hiraishin and teleported to the seal he'd put on Naruto over nine months ago.

Mikoto jumped off the couch in surprise while Itachi flung a kunai at him on instinct. The Yellow Flash merely raised an eyebrow at the Uchiha heir and caught the training kunai by slipping his forefinger into its loop at the end of the grip.

The blue-eyed man spun the kunai on his finger lazily as he complimented the Uchiha, "Nice reflexes. However, you didn't move after throwing your weapon." Minato's speedily-created Kage Bunshin grabbed the six-year-old by the scruff of his neck from behind and picked the flailing child up. "Thus, you made it easy for my Clone to sneak up and take you out from behind. Never leave your back unprotected, Itachi-kun."

The child sulked for a brief moment before giving his Hokage a grateful nod for the advice. "I won't forget it, Hokage-sama," Itachi accepted.

The blonde man sighed in frustration as he retold the boy, "How many times do I have to tell you that it's not 'Hokage-sama' whenever we're not in public?"

The grin that was on the Uchiha child's face told Minato that he was only doing it in order to annoy him.

"How many times must I tell you to _stop doing that_!?" Mikoto shrieked at him. "I was feeding Sasuke when you flashed in! If Itachi hadn't distracted you then you would've gotten a few black eyes at least!" She glared at the shrinking form of the blue-eyed father before she added on, "And put my son down!"

"Right away, Mikoto," he relented weakly as he dispelled the Kage Bunshin and Itachi landed on his feet. The smirk on the kid's face made Minato want to throttle him, but he decided that embarrassment would serve better in this case. "What are _you _grinning at; your date with Ayame-chan?"

Itachi's grin vanished while Minato sprouted a smirk of his own as Mikoto asked, "When did this happen?"

Minato shrugged and feigned ignorance as he answered her, "Dunno, but Ayame was all up-in-arms about how 'her Itachi-kun' was coming to her birthday party next week."

"That's right," the black-haired mother realized. "Ichiraku-san told me that her daughter's birthday party was coming up." She whirled around and glared at her eldest child as she demanded, "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"It's news to me," Itachi grumbled. "Besides, I don't wanna go! 'Tou-san told me that he wanted me to train next week while Hokage-sama was in Suna!"

"You're going," Mikoto stated in finality with her hands on her hips. "You'll still be able to train, so your father will still be happy. I won't have my children being antisocial just because of some archaic rule from before Konoha was even founded."

Her son mumbled something under his breath, but under his mother's withering glare wisely decided to shut his mouth and nod in acceptance of his decided fate.

_Would this be how Kushina would've been as a mother?_ Minato couldn't help but wonder. Pictures of the potential life that he and Kushina might've been having had things been different swam through him as he felt a fond smile form on his face. _Not quite, but close enough._

Mikoto had been lecturing Itachi on proper conduct on how to treat a lady when a small voice cut through the room and silenced all voices and thoughts.

"P-Papa."

All three standing people went ramrod straight as each heard the small voice come from the crib where Naruto and Sasuke were laid down.

Eventually, Minato broke the silence by asking what everyone was thinking, "Was… Was that…?"

"Papa," the small voice repeated, a little louder this time.

The father felt tears of both happiness for the moment finally coming and sadness because Kushina wasn't here to experience it with him, form at the edges of his eyes.

"Papa!"

Their son's first word.

Minato flew across the room, picked his blonde child up, and held Naruto above him. His child's own pair of cerulean eyes were filled with happiness as father and son looked directly at each other.

"Papa!" the infant in his arms squealed in happiness. "Papa! Papa! Papa! Papa!"

The blonde father grew a bright smile as he felt a tear fall from each eye simultaneously. "He called me Papa!" He exclaimed in glee. "My son's first word's 'Papa!'"

"Papa!" Naruto repeated happily.

Before Mikoto and Itachi could each take their turns trying to get Naruto to say something else, Minato asked nobody in particular, "Can you see this, Kushina? Our boy's starting to get all-grown-up now." A few more tears dripped from his chin as he finished so low that only he could hear it, "I miss you, my love."

* * *

Minato fanned his face as he sat back down in the Kage's box.

He'd arrived in Suna two days ago, and today was the date of the Chuunin Exam Finals. Konoha had only had one Genin manage to make it past the Preliminaries after the Second Round, and young Ebisu was proving himself a resilient shinobi.

The glasses-wearing Genin wasn't the strongest of all the Finals participants – that title would probably belong to the fifteen-year-old he was about to battle in the Final Round, but Ebisu was crafty. He was aware of his disadvantages, but had managed to turn his opponents' skills against them.

It didn't help that the majority of the Konoha Genin's opponents had been Wind Nature users, and he was a Fire Nature user.

Ebisu's strategy was usually very sound – not elite, but enough to warrant his already-earned promotion. The methods differed from match-to-match, but the results were always the same: By using his intelligence, abilities with ninja wire, and creativity he'd trap his opponent and then force them to cast a Fuuton (Wind Release) jutsu some way. Once they'd cast their Wind, Ebisu would counter by casting one of his own Katon (Fire Release) jutsu and the Wind would drastically increase the strength of his flames. However, as proved in the last match, he expected his opponent to succeed in stopping his jutsu and arranged for another trap that guaranteed the win.

"Unfortunately," the Hokage mumbled, "his opponent this time is an Earth user. Ebisu will have his work cut out for him."

"That he will," the Kazekage agreed from his own seat. "Shiina-san is one of Suna's few Doton (Earth Release) users, and is hungry for his well-deserved promotion."

The rust-haired Kazekage had been more than hospitable in the few days that Minato had been in Suna. He'd offered the Hokage a room in his own home, but Minato had turned him down and elected to stay in a simple inn – granted, the inn had given him their Kage suite and refused his payments.

The Yondaime Kazekage was exactly as the blonde remembered him from when they'd fought together in the last war: wary of others, extremely patriotic, a dangerous politician, and immediately suspicious of anything pertaining to other Hidden Villages. The last was proven when he'd skillfully changed the subject when Minato had enquired as to his wife's fate – as he'd recalled that she'd been pregnant on his last visit to Suna a year-and-a-half ago.

Minato had come to the desert village knowing that what he wished to do would require some patience and convincing, but the way things were going it appeared that the Kazekage wasn't going to open up the conversation through simple, subtle hints. The Hokage didn't want to leave Suna without even trying, so he decided that since being purely diplomatic wasn't cutting it, he'd have to be direct. Minato hated direct action.

Too many things couldn't be counted for in that kind of direction. While Minato didn't think of himself as manipulative or a control-freak, he valued being able to control as many aspects of politics as possible in order to prevent anything unforeseen from occurring so that he could always be prepared. He'd seen the results of direct action plenty of times in the war, and they still plagued his dreams every now and again.

The blue-eyed man raised his hand in order to provide a little shade as he asked conversationally, "Is the sun _always_ this terrible in Suna?"

The Kazekage allowed a single chuckle in amusement before answering, "Yes. That's why you'll find that many of our shinobi wear some kind of facial-covering. It keeps the glare out of your eyes."

"And here I thought Baki-san was hideously disfigured," the blonde quipped as a joke. "But it turns out he just wants to keep the sun out of his eye."

The amusement in the rust-haired man's eyes gave Minato pause, but his caution quickly left him as he heard, "No. Baki just likes to believe that he is making a fashion statement."

The two Kages' guards looked at each other in confusion as the two village leaders chortled. The Suna shinobi had never heard their Kazekage laugh before, so they had no idea on how to react to the new phenomenon.

"You really are still the same, Kazekage-dono," Minato said cheerily as he wiped a tear from his eye. "You never show it, but you _do_ have sense of human humor underneath all that Gold Dust."

The Kazekage gave him a small grin before asking seriously, "Who're your recommendations for Chuunin, Hokage-dono?"

"Honestly?" the blonde scratched his head and felt a few grains of sand. "Only these two. "None of their opponents or the other participants really showed me that they have the strategic capabilities to make Chuunin yet. One or two of 'em have the strength, speed, or chakra abilities of a Chuunin, but only Ebisu and Shiina-san have proven to be the whole package."

The other Kage nodded in agreement. "I agree with you, as much as I hate it. Suna's Genin just don't seem to be much right now – I hope this isn't a trend. You only had one Genin make it into the Finals, yet he's dismantled his opponents by using his Nature Release wisely and allowing his enemy's own jutsu to power it. Shiina-san is proving himself so far as well, and I hope he doesn't disappoint in this match."

"I highly doubt that will happen," the Hokage assured with a small wave of his hand. "Shiina-san's quick-wits will be going up against Ebisu's plots, so I believe that it'll be a fine match. Have you heard the odds on this fight?"

"No, I haven't."

"Ebisu is the favorite: One-point-five-to-one odds. Personally, I like Shiina-san to win because his defense is thicker than all the Fuuton users Ebisu's gone against so far. Ebisu doesn't seem, to me, to have enough power to break through Shiina-san's Doryuuheki (Earth/Mud Wall)."

"An honest assessment," the Kazekage nodded, seemingly impressed. "I'd have thought you'd choose your own village's Genin, but you believe in my own shinobi. Curious."

"What's curious about it?" Minato asked, knowing why the other man thought so. "Konoha and Suna are allies, aren't we? Therefore, one village's strength helps boost the other's, and promoting both our village's development is beneficial to both of our villages."

"While that is true, both of us have been betrayed by our former allies," the rust-haired man pointed out shrewdly. "So it is our duty as our home's Kage to improve our own village before another."

"True," Minato relented. "However, focusing too much on our own village can prevent us from noticing possible strength in our allies."

The Suna leader's eyes narrowed before asking, "What are you saying, Hokage-dono?"

The Hokage shrugged, but before he could answer Baki called for the Final Match of the Chuunin Exam to start. Instead, he said, "Let us talk more in private quarters later, shall we?"

The other Kage kept his dark-brown eyes narrowed before giving him a small nod and leaning back into his own chair. He then called over one of his shinobi and whispered something in the Suna Jounin's ear before the young man nodded and then disappeared in a swirl of sand.

Minato inwardly smirked. While he disliked direct action, he'd gotten the attention of the Suna Kage. However, in order to achieve what he intended to, the Hokage suspected that he'd have to give the other leader something.

The blonde Kage then decided to just sit back and enjoy the show that the two Genin were about to put on for everybody. He, personally, disliked the way the Chuunin Exam's Final Rounds were always just one-on-one, as they didn't really demonstrate how well the participating shinobi were while operating with a team.

_Maybe I can arrange for a few slight changes,_ the blue-eyed man pondered. _Konoha doesn't get the Chuunin Exams again for some time, but maybe I can convince the others to allow me to experiment with a few things when it does come back._

The match between the glasses wearing Konoha Genin and Suna's Earth-user was a real show-stopper. For a long while Ebisu was being forced back and on the defensive while Shiina quickly opened the match by charging and refusing to allow his opponent any time to think. On the few instances Ebisu had managed to distance himself and throw some kunai with exploding-tags, Shiina managed to erect his Doryuuheki and then send the wall's fragments back at his opponent like an improvised weapon, which kept Ebisu moving and unable to set up any traps.

As the match began to enter its climax, Ebisu finally managed to use a little wire and set up an exploding-tag trap, which Shiina triggered. The crowd gasped as the thirty explosions created a thick cloud of smoke over the young Suna Genin. Thinking it was finally over; Ebisu sighed and pushed his glasses back up.

Right as the Konoha Genin's hand began to lift his glasses; a fist shot up from the ground and slammed into his chin, sending him flying. Shiina emerged from the ground with his fist extended upwards with pieces of rock cutting him and sticking out of his bleeding arms and legs.

_He created a rock dome in the split-second before the tags went off and had it take the explosions,_ Minato noted with impressment. _He then used his Doton abilities to create a tunnel while the smoke covered him and took advantage of his foe letting his defenses down._

However, before Shiina could be declared the victor, two more exploding tags went off at his feet, propelling him into the arena wall. Both competing shinobi crumbled to the ground and the crowd was silent as they eagerly awaited Baki's decision.

Baki checked on both Ebisu and Shiina. He found each in equal states before raising his arm up and declaring, "Both participants are unable to continue! This Chuunin Exam ends in a tie!"

The crowd's raucous cheering for the spectacle they'd all just witnessed was nearly deafening. Minato had stood out of his chair and was openly applauding both Genin for their display and match. Even the stoic face of the Yondaime Kazekage had a grin as he joined in the applause with some light clapping while he remained seated.

"Well that was quite the show," Minato began as he looked out at the slowly-emptying stadium.

"Indeed," the Suna leader agreed. "But I have a feeling that today's drama has yet to end."

The blonde Kage felt himself tense. That tone was careful, practiced, and one he'd heard many times during his dealings with Danzo. It was pure cunning, and now he had to find a way to convince the paranoid and suspicious man.

"I do as well," he said carefully. "Where is the rest of it taking place?"

"In my office," the brown-eyed man informed him. "It is private, and no one will interrupt."

"Very well," Minato acknowledged with a nod. He and the other Kage then vanished from the Kage's box and reappeared within the Kazekage's personal office.

The robed man took off his traditional head-cover and set it on the center of his desk with the kanji for 'Wind Shadow' facing Minato. The rust-haired Kage then sat in his office's chair, directly behind the Kage's hat, and steepled his hands in front of his face with his elbows on the desk. "You may sit, if you wish," the Kazekage informed him. "I believe that you have come to Suna for another reason than to support your lone Genin in the Chuunin Exam, and I am curious as to your true purpose."

Seeing no need to be anything but direct at the moment, Minato simply told the man, "I know about Karura and your son, Gaara."

If he was surprised, the man didn't show it. "I see," he said slowly. "I'd always suspected spies within Suna, but I never suspected Konoha would betray our alliance first."

"You're mistaken, Kazekage-dono," the Hokage told him as he removed his own red Hokage's hat and set it next to the Kazekage's. "Jiraiya-sensei travels all across each Elemental Nation, and he came across this information while in your village last year. It is well-documented that he was here, as he told me that at least forty people saw him, and around twenty of them were kunoichi."

"Ah," the Suna man realized. "I had heard of the Toad Sannin's presence within my village last year from my former Jounin Commander. Your _sensei_ caused quite a stir in my village before he left."

"Yeah," the blue-eyed father sheepishly agreed. "He does that quite often, from what I hear. Unfortunately, I can't control him."

"So you had one of the _Sannin_ spying on me for you?"

"No," he rejected flatly. "As I said, I have no control over Jiraiya-sensei. The only person he's ever willingly accepted _orders_ from was his own sensei while Sarutobi-sama was Hokage before me. While, in case of emergency, I am able to call him back to Konoha, sensei is rarely present in the village. I rarely communicate with him while he's outside the village as well – so no, sensei wasn't here on my orders to spy on you. I swear upon my late-wife's gravestone that I have not, nor ever have, sent any of my shinobi here under orders of espionage."

"And why should I believe that you truly value the alliance between our villages?" the Kazekage probed. "Even if you _stumbled_ upon this knowledge, there is no guarantee that you'll keep this information to yourself. It would make sense that you've already alerted your own shinobi in case Gaara should appear in Konoha."

"Your son's secret is now classified as an S-Class secret, Kazekage-dono," Minato informed his ally stiffly. "The only ones who know are myself and Jiraiya-sensei, as he was the one who originally discovered the information. If you seek verification of my statement, then here," he said as he reached into his cloak and pulled out a green scroll. "This scroll contains my official decree of what I have just told you of, and it is sealed by a Blood Seal, with only my own being able to remove it."

The rust-haired man stared at the green roll of parchment in silence before saying, "If you have done all this, then I will overlook the small breach in the treaty, even if it was unintentional, if you do something for me. Knowledge of Suna's Jinchuuriki should be traded with Konoha's own. I am well-aware that Konoha's previous Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi, Kushina Uzumaki, is no more. Who is your new Jinchuuriki?"

"My son," the Hokage stated evenly. "The current Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi is mine and Kushina's son, Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze." He'd known that the information would be asked for, but it still wasn't easy on the father to let that secret out.

That knowledge actually made the Kazekage's brows rise in surprise. "Your son?" he asked curiously. "I'd believed it impossible to hold the entirety of the Kyuubi's chakra within an infant."

"Nothing is impossible with fuuinjutsu," the blonde Master of the craft answered confidently. "The seal I designed was an advancement on the Eight Trigrams, and it allows my son's small body to house the Kyuubi while also slowly absorbing its chakra into his system."

"Your child will be dangerous, if what you say is true."

"It is," he reasserted. The Hokage briefly allowed a pregnant pause to appear before saying, "I can do something similar for Gaara, if you'd prefer."

The Kazekage's _eyes_ widened in shock at hearing the offer. No doubt because this was unheard of in all of shinobi history for another village's leader to offer assistance with someone else's Jinchuuriki.

The Suna man's eyes retreated to their usually-impassive mask. He then asked, "_If_ I were to consider this offer, how would it be performed?"

"_If_ you allowed it," Minato answered, "then I'd use a Four-Pillar Style Seal, as the Shiki Fujin is required to perform the Eight-Trigrams."

"And what would be the Seal's effect?"

"It would suppress Shukaku's consciousness, for starters," he began to list. "I've discovered that the reason Suna's Jinchuuriki have had a tendency of being so mentally unstable is because the Seal applied to them is extremely weak and barely acts as a border between the biju's mind and its host's. This would allow your village to possess a Jinchuuriki who wouldn't have to suffer from chronic insomnia and could actually afford to sleep without losing control over the Ichibi."

The man's face was carefully neutral as he asked, "How would it help in the training of the Jinchuuriki?"

"This new seal isn't as complex as the Eight Trigrams," the blonde informed the other Kage, "so your son and the biju wouldn't merge over time like Naruto and the Kyuubi will do. However, the seal will allow better control over Shukaku's abilities and prevent an unwanted take-over like Suna's Jinchuuriki have suffered from in the past."

After another brief silent spell, the Kazekage spoke, "I'm not going to ask how you know of the previous hosts' fates. What is it that _Konoha_ will get out of performing this new seal?"

"Nothing," Minato answered flatly. "I ask for nothing, because I am legitimate in my desire to achieve closer ties between our villages and to strengthen the alliance further. As I told you earlier: 'Both villages benefit from the other's strength.' That is part of the reason I am offering this to you."

"Part of?"

"The other part is a personal desire of mine," the blonde father said carefully. "I am the father of a Jinchuuriki myself, you know?"

"A personal desire, huh?"

Minato froze as he realized that he'd most likely blown the progress he'd made by phrasing it that way. _Shit!_ He berated himself. _And I was _so_ close!_

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to turn your _seemingly innocent_ bargain down, Hokage-dono," the Yondaime Kazekage said, just as Minato figured he would. "While your offer is tempting, I'll admit, I don't like to be in anyone's debt. So, no."

Minato, meanwhile, wanted to beat his head on something hard, many times, for destroying all of his progress in the negotiations. _Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!_ He kept repeating to himself as his mind was frantically searching for a way to salvage the situation he'd just created.

"If there is nothing else, Hokage-dono?" the rust-haired man asked, signaling an end to the discussion.

The genius mind of the Yellow Flash could only come up with one possible solution, but that didn't mean he liked it. _I'm sorry, Kushina,_ he silently begged his wife's forgiveness for what he was about to suggest. _We knew it was a possibility when we found out about Naruto, and I only wish I could do something else now._ "What if I could give you proof of my generosity?" the Hokage finally asked.

A brow rose as the Suna man asked, "Such as?"

"I hereby offer a marriage between our villages," Minato revealed evenly, not allowing his voice to waver as he felt disgust well-up in his gut.

"Who are you offering?" the Kazekage asked curiously.

"I am proposing a marriage between our families," the Hokage answered. "My son, and your daughter."

Another weighty pause suffered their presence as the other Kage mulled over the new offer. He finally asked, "Why?"

"This possible marriage allows me to accomplish multiple goals all at once," he said truthfully, knowing that lying or hiding anything in such a situation would blow back up in his face in a short matter of time. "First, this proves my sincerity and genuine desire to better your village by showing you I _do_ have an interest in this. Second, a marriage between the families of two Kage from our allied villages would strengthen the alliance between us with a near-unbreakable bond between our families. Third, this proposal allows me to take a preemptive strike at the Konoha Council before they can move first."

"The first two I acknowledge and understand," the brown-eyed Kage told him. "But the last I don't believe I understand your motivations."

"There is a law within Konoha that is not widely-known," the Hokage revealed. "It was written by Nidaime-sama, but instituted under Shodaime-sama when Konoha was founded and used as a selling point to draw powerful Clans into Konoha. It is known as the Clan Restoration Act.

"The C.R.A. – as it is commonly referred to as – is a law which states: 'The last male survivor and heir of a prominent Konoha Clan _must_ take at least five wives or be betrothed to at least five women by the heir's seventeenth birthday. Should the heir not meet these expectations, the Konoha Council will arrange suitable wives for him.'

"Seeing as how the Council has yet to inform me of them placing Naruto under the C.R.A., I believe that they are waiting until Naruto gets close to the deadline before instituting it in order to ensure that they get to choose my son's wives. My offer today is the first shot and helps to prevent my son from becoming a breeding horse for the Council – who I'm certain would use their own families as their choices for Naruto's wives.

"Understand that I do not offer this marriage with _only_ that in mind. I do so because I am earnest in my desire to assist Sunagakure. To prove it, I am also offering this: Should our children be against being together, then they both have the chance to annul the agreement upon Naruto's seventeenth birthday, as the Council can't force a Clan Head to take multiple wives, and Naruto will officially be declared the Uzumaki Clan Head soon after his seventeenth birthday."

"Hmm," the Kazekage hummed as he crossed his arms across his chest in contemplation.

This was an all-or-nothing gamble, Minato knew, but it was a gamble that he was willing to take. He'd heavily leaned the agreement in Suna's favor, but every word he spoke was true. As a father, the Kazekage would appreciate the final addition, Minato knew he sure did, as it prevented either of their children from being trapped within a potentially-loveless marriage.

"Why tell me all this?" the rust-haired Kage asked, seemingly genuinely interested in his answer.

"Because you would have found out sooner or later," Minato answered simply. "And if you'd discovered that I hid this information from you, then you might've taken it as an insult to the trust we could've developed today and even possibly called off the alliance in response."

"True," the Kazekage nodded slowly. "I have another condition to this arrangement, and then I can agree with everything we've discussed so far."

"Very well," Minato acknowledged. On the inside though, chibi versions of the Yellow Flash were dancing their victory dance in his head since he'd finally succeeded.

"What I wish to add," the rust-haired man revealed, "is that we keep this arrangement between only ourselves, our children, and those we trust with this knowledge. Not allowing this to become public knowledge will ensure that neither village is able to influence the relationship one way or the other; we let Temari-chan and Naruto-kun decide it for themselves."

Minato's eyes widened in amazement after hearing the addition. _I hadn't thought of that_, he realized. "Agreed."

The Kazekage nodded before going to his door and requesting that his daughter be brought to his office. He walked back into the room and sighed before saying, "As a Kage, I must do what is best for my village, but as a father I must do what is best for my children. This is a position I have no idea why anyone wants it."

"The paperwork is a hassle too."

"That goes without saying."

"I agree with you, though," the blonde father and Hokage told him as he ran a hand through his spiky blonde locks. "I keep finding myself torn between my duty as Hokage and responsibilities of fatherhood, and I can only hope that I won't be forced to choose." As he said this, he noticed the Kazekage's jaw tighten, but didn't comment.

"It is a terrible choice, should you ever be forced to," the rust-haired man told him sagely, and Minato filed this information away for later.

"Oh," Minato realized something. "I have a piece of advice – or request – for you, if you'll hear me out."

"What is it?"

"Don't make Gaara be alone," Kushina's husband spoke. "Jinchuuriki are a lonely enough existence as it is without being separated from the only people who love them unconditionally regardless – their family. My late-wife grew up so lonely, and I've cursed myself every day for not noticing it back then when it was so obvious. She'd reacted to it violently, _very_ violently.

"But something that Mito Senju – the first Kyuubi Jinchuuriki – told her gave her hope that she could be happy one day. It was: 'A Jinchuuriki may have a good life. All you have to do is surround the vessel with love. If you can do that, then the vessel may live well.'" Minato gave the now-stunned Kage a sad smile as he added, "That was my wife's last request of me – to fill Naruto with love. Now that I think about it, maybe the C.R.A. can actually help more with that than I first thought."

The stunned Kage regained his composure as he shakily said, "I'll… I'll consider what you've said."

Just then a small knock came from the Kazekage's office entry-door. The door opened and a small girl with shoulder-length, desert-blonde hair walked in the room and Minato could swear that she was a younger Karura. She began timidly, "Ch-Chichi-ue? Baki-san said you wanted to talk to me."

"Yes," he confirmed to her. "Hokage-dono and I have been discussing some things, and they concern you."

"H-Hokage-sama!?" the girl squealed in excitement. She looked at him with a bit of admiration, which Minato figured was to be expected considering how large his legend had gotten in Suna in particular, seeing as how he single-handedly pushed Iwa out of Kaze no Kuni.

At the rust-haired father's stern look, she quickly lost her excitement. However, young Temari had lost all former timidity that was present upon her entrance.

"Nice to meet you," Minato greeted. "Do you mind if I call you Temari?"

"Not at all, Hokage-sama."

A blonde eyebrow rose, impressed at how easily the girl could speak already. "Very well then, Temari-san. Your father and I have come to an agreement, and it concerns you."

"Temari-chan," her father informed her, "you and Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze have been agreed to become fiancés. No one other than the family is to know, understood?"

As the girl gave a firm nod, Minato couldn't help but ask, "Are you okay with this, Temari-san?"

She merely looked up at him, her hair bouncing as she turned her head as she asked, "Will he end up as good looking as you?"

Minato fought the urge to break out laughing as he watched the girl's father smack his forehead.

The blonde man answered, "I don't know, but Naruto-kun does have a striking resemblance to me already, so it's possible."

Temari shrugged and told him, "Then I'm perfectly happy right now."

* * *

**A/N:** Alright everyone, I can already tell you that this little Note will not be _little_ at all, so go get your popcorn ready and sit back and enjoy the show, as I don't want to have to repeat myself.

**Jiraiya:**What was that?

I said that I -

Haha Jiraiya, very funny. Now go back to your _research_ and leave me to my rant.

I guess the first order of business is to confirm for you all since I've mentioned the infamous C.R.A. that, yes, this story's main pairing is NarutoxMULTI. So yes, Naruto will be involved with multiple women during the course of the story romantically. I won't be telling you all who he will be involved with until it happens, so don't bother asking.

Now then, you must've noticed how I listed it as NarutoxMulti, and not NarutoxHarem. There is a reason for that, as I actually don't like the term for what I will be doing here in this story. _Harem_ implies some type of male rulership over his wives and concubines, but that _will not_ occur in this tale. First off, there will be no _concubines_ in the end of the story, only wives. That means that no single female is above the others, regardless of the order of when Naruto falls for them. Therefore, this is not classified as a harem fic in my eyes. Just as much as I _loathe_ bashing, I despise it when an author simply creates a harem for no reason.

Yes, I will admit that the C.R.A. is fanon and not canon. However, just like the Civilian Faction in the Konoha Council here in my story, it is used as a plot device, not a plot driver. What that means is that the story doesn't revolve around the pairing(s) of my tale. I didn't create this story off of the idea, "Hey, I wonder what it'd be like if Naruto was able to have a few more wives!" No. My story was created off of, "What if Minato had survived and was able to retain his position of Hokage? How would that change things? Would Naruto still be the same Naruto if he had a father to help him grow up?" And things kept on coming to me from there.

The relationships I've come up with for Naruto and other characters in my story are not what will make my fic. I told my beta a little while ago, "The relationships don't determine the story, the story determines the relationships." This means that each relationship, whether it be romantic or otherwise, will affect Naruto's character for the story at large. So the relationships are mere plot devices that have far-reaching effects and a deep impact on the protagonist.

In answer to the guest reviewer Shazbot: While you have your own opinions and I will respect them, I must respectfully disagree with you. First off, this is _Fan_ Fiction, so nobody on here should be a professional writer who is capable of creating a Pulitzer-Prize winner like you've made it seem like you're looking for in your review. There are some writers on here who are good, but none here (myself included) have that kind of skill if we're writing stories on a free site like Fanfiction here. While I do agree that some stories are more absurd than others, I don't think that you should claim that all stories you don't like are shit, as you said. Stories are given reviews, favorites, and follows because the writer gives the reader what they want in the case that you've used. I don't personally prefer stories like the one you've listed, but that doesn't classify it as crappy, like you claimed. Writers come to Fanfiction because we seek to try out our writing abilities in a public forum, and that allows us to find out if we're as good as we think we might be. That being said, there are stories that are similar to the one you've listed - _Neo Yondaime Hokage_ by Psycho G and _Chronicles of my Shinobi's Way_ by Naruto6023 come to mind - that have compelling plotlines while still employing 'shitty writing' as you put. Each of these stories employs the NarutoxMulti concept, instead of the NarutoxHarem concept that I've listed, and that is the difference in my views to yours. Also, people offer their opinions on possible character relationships because they are usually curious as to how they would be portrayed in a story by an author. Just because some reviewers request information on possible pairings doesn't mean that they are turned off if they don't get what they want and are 'shitty readers.' If you want to rave and rant on how I'm wrong and now am a 'shitty writer' since I'm employing a similar concept in my story, then please do so. I've been on the receiving end of flames before, and they amuse me more than anything else. The insults are rather eye-opening, if I do say so myself. I think that one of them thought that he was Rolf from _Ed, Edd, and Eddy_ with everything he called me.

For clarification, the NarutoxMulti fic concept means that the fic doesn't revolve around how Naruto 'get's the girls' like the NarutoxHarem concept does. The relationships are created by the plot, not the other way around in the NarutoxMulti fics.

About Naruto6023's fic, I was originally turned off by the incestual warning, but the story was so compelling that it didn't really bother me as much as I thought it would when it happened. _That's_ what I'm talking about in the NarutoxMulti pairing.

Seeing as how I've gotten it this long, I guess I should go ahead and clear up a few things for the future of this fic. One, Naruto will not become some super-powered badass when he graduates to Genin. I have it planned that, due to a few changes in his character because of a few differences in canon, he will be around mid-chuunin level by the time the Chuunin Exam Finals come around (got some great plans for that arc). This means that he won't get the Rinnegan, Mokuton (Wood Release), or any other Kekkei Genkai that he wasn't blessed with by Kishimoto when he began the story. So there won't be anything like that. Don't mean that he won't develop some awesome techniques on his own (like his dear old dad did).

About Minato's character. I have made him the way I have because it seems more natural to me. He was married to Kushina and was a loving and caring father who cried out of happiness when Naruto was finally born, so it didn't seem like a stretch to me that he would care about Konoha in general in a similar fashion - I believe this is backed up by how easily he sacrificed himself for the village as a whole without a single regret showing on his face. Also, just because he is caring does not mean he is 'soft,' as a reviewer put. True, the man didn't become Hokage by being soft, but Minato hasn't had the need to become hardened yet. In the Council scene, I dealt with showing that he can do that, but in the Anko scene I showed his caring side. He was personally chosen by Hiruzen Sarutobi, a vocal supporter and believer in the Will of Fire, and Sarutobi wouldn't have chosen a Hokage who wouldn't believe in it like he and his predecessors did. Rest assured, you will get to see the 'hard' Minato (no dirty jokes please) soon, like next chapter soon, as I intend on a duel taking place in it (I'm not saying with who, you'll see).

Whelp, looks like I'm finally done. God knows how much this one Author's Note added to the damn word count, but I won't complain. I probably pissed a bunch of people off, but I'm writing this for my sake, not their's. On the other hand, I might have impressed a few readers, and I say, "Welcome aboard!" to all of you who've started my fic. I must apologize for this lengthy rant, but I felt that everything in it needed to be said now, instead of later.

Hope you all can enjoy it like I do! Good reading all!

Later.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

* * *

Minato winced as his office's door was slammed shut.

"Well, that could have gone better," Minato sighed absently. "I knew that they were starting to have problems, but I had no idea it was that bad."

Fugaku Uchiha was a good father and Clan Head, but now Minato doubted the man would be able to hold a cordial conversation if the Hokage was even mentioned around him.

"I wish there was something else I could do," the blonde man thought aloud. "But if he didn't believe me just now, I highly doubt he'll ever think otherwise."

The blue eyed man stood up from his desk and walked over to his office's window. He then felt for the Hiraishin Seal on his son, and let out a sigh in relief once he felt it.

_Good,_ he thought. _Naruto's safe, for now. It looks like I'll need to take the Uchiha off of Naruto's detail now. If there's one thing Fugaku made _abundantly _clear it's that he blames Naruto and me._ "God I wish sensei hadn't gone looking for Tsunade-sama! And Kakashi's gone too! This is so damned frustrating!" he yelled as he pulled at his hair.

"Umm… Hokage-sama?" Ryuuma's voice called to him timidly from the doorway. "Can I… Can I come in?"

Minato stopped. Ryuuma _never _asked for permission, as she knew that she didn't need it unless he expressly told her. Curious as to her action, he asked, "What is it, Ryuuma?"

"I… I need some advice," the blue-haired woman admitted hesitantly. "I… I'm at a loss, and you're the only person I trust with this."

A blonde eyebrow rose in curiosity as he ushered his assistant in. "Of course," he assured her. "Come in, and I'll try to help you with whatever you need."

"Thanks," the green-eyed beauty smiled at him, but Minato detected a large amount of sadness hidden behind it. She closed the door behind her and walked over to his desk. "Can you… Can you use the Privacy Seals?" she asked nervously. "I really don't want anyone to hear."

At this point, Minato was concerned. Ryuuma had always sought him out whenever she was in need, but she'd _never_ asked for that.

"Of course," he answered her before running through the required hand seals and activating the offices Privacy Seals. "There," he told her. He then sat down in his own chair and gestured to the one directly across from him. "Have it. I get the feeling you're gonna need it."

"I do as well," she agreed with him sadly before taking the offered seat.

"Now, how can I help?" Minato began comfortingly.

Ryuuma fidgeted in her seat nervously, and the Hokage's concern turned into full-blown worry. His assistant was the picture of confidence, and if what she wanted to talk about was making _her_ nervous, then it had to be big.

However, it seemed she was reluctant to tell him about whatever she needed advice with, as she started by saying, "Uchiha-san seemed rather angry when he left."

The blue-eyed man didn't like how she wanted to avoid the matter, but he elected to play along with what she felt comfortable with in order to help her regain her confidence. "Angry was putting it lightly," he said with a small sigh. "To be honest, I'm still shocked he didn't break my door as he left."

"What happened?"

"The last three years happened, Ryuuma," he informed her tiredly. "His brother died on a mission I sent him on last week, and I guess that was the last he could stand." He noticed Ryuuma's grimace at the mention of Fugaku's brother, but didn't speak about it, already beginning to guess on what she needed help with.

"That's…tragic," the beauty of twenty-two years said. "I'd heard about him not making it back, but…"

"It's not worth worrying over," the blonde dismissed her thoughts, and she shifted in the chair again. "I know I sound heartless, but what's done is done, Ryuuma. We can't change the past, regardless of how much we may or may not want to."

"I know that," she murmured. "But what do you mean about how the last three years happened?"

"Apparently, Fugaku didn't want Mikoto to help with Naruto, for some reason," the father told her. "She went against his wishes and has spent the majority of every day for the last three years taking care of Naruto. She's been a wonderful mother to him – he's even started calling her 'Kaa-san. Problem is: She's always away from her own home and is at _my_ house."

Ryuuma's bright green eyes widened before saying, "I can see how that'd put some strain on him."

"It's more than that," Minato said sadly. "Fugaku has always been a jealous man, Ryuuma. In the last few years he's become paranoid, claiming that people are following him and his clan, and saying that they're doing so under _my_ orders." The Uchiha Clan Head was right, of course, but Minato had to keep tabs on _every_ possible avenue that the Masked Man might employ in order to get to Naruto. He'd gladly let Fugaku steam and be angry with him so long as his child remained safe.

"What's made him so surly?" Ryuuma asked.

"Everything I've told you," the blue-eyed man answered her. "The problem is that, I think, Fugaku is beginning to blame Naruto and me both for his recent strife. I told him that his brother volunteered for that last mission – I'd have preferred to send someone as skilled as Kakashi, but my old student's on a month-long mission right now. I made certain to inform him of all the known and suspected missing-nin in Cha no Kuni (Tea Country). Unfortunately, he didn't make it back."

"That's just wrong," Ryuuma said bitterly. "I may hold no love for the man, but blaming you for his brother's death when he knowingly took on a mission that had a good chance of not coming back is wrong."

"That may be so, but it's Fugaku's choice on who to blame."

"Did he… Did he accuse you of something?" Ryuuma asked him sourly.

"He didn't come out and say it," Minato said to his assistant, "but I have no doubt he wanted to. He seems to believe that his wife and I are _involved_, and is trying to find proof of something that doesn't exist. I assured him that Mikoto and I are _not _in a relationship of a salacious – or _any_ – nature aside from simple friendship. Unfortunately, I don't think he'll ever believe me."

"Mikoto would never betray Kushina that way," Ryuuma whispered harshly.

Minato's brows rose at hearing how she'd just referred to his wife's best friend that way. Usually, any time _anyone_ of the Uchiha Clan was mentioned by her, Ryuuma's voice held a hard edge to it, but her usual bitterness was absent. _When did this happen?_ he silently wondered.

"I… I'm glad that the matter of my child's father's death has been brought up," Ryuuma stated formally as her voice wavered, and everything clicked in the Yondaime's mind.

"What is it you need help with?" Minato repeated gently, his cerulean eyes understanding her hesitancy.

"M-Mikoto came to me yesterday," the blue-haired woman began to tell him. "I… I hadn't known she'd been arguing with the Elders and her husband to let both me and my daughter back in. Seeing as how dad's…gone, she claimed that both of us shouldn't remain cast out anymore."

"I… I didn't know, Ryuuma," Minato told her honestly, as he truly hadn't known that the Uchiha matriarch had been trying to get Ryuuma reinstated into the Clan.

"The problem is," she continued softly, "I _was_ banished from the Clan seven years ago. She didn't know that, so I don't blame her for not being able to get me back in. I was cast out because of numerous things I regret doing, but…"

"Mikoto couldn't get _you_, but she can get –"

"Yes," Ryuuma interjected. "She argued that my daughter, while being my child, was never officially branded a No-Name by the Clan, she's just had no name to inherit because of my faults. The Head and Elders never gave her argument much thought…"

"Until now," Minato finished for her.

The former Uchiha woman nodded in affirmation. "Yes. Fugaku refuses to allow it, but the Elders recognize that his brother left no true heir before he died. Mikoto convinced the Elders – all four of them – to let my daughter back in. If I agree, then my little girl will be instated as the third-in-line to become the next Uchiha Head. She'll basically be treated like royalty."

"But…" he prompted her to continue.

"But… I have to give up all claims to her in order for the Elders to let her in. I…" she bit her lip. "I can't be her mother anymore. She'll be adopted by Mikoto's cousin, and raised better than I ever could give her.

"She'll be able to grow up and have friends her own age. My girl'll be allowed to know her heritage. She'll have the best gifts and clothing, and I know I can't give her all of that. She can become a wonderful shinobi, as she'll get private lessons from some of the Uchiha's best instructors. The list just keeps going on and on, Hokage-sama!"

"Who would adopt her?" Minato queried.

"Shisui's mom," she told him with a small sniffle. "Mikoto brought her by yesterday, and she seems to be a wonderful woman." Minato nodded, knowing it to be true. "She promised me that she'd raise my girl like she was her own, and I really think she meant it.

"Ren-chan would be able to grow up with a whole family," Ryuuma kept on speaking before she could descend into a sobbing mess. "She'd have a big brother to look after her, and Shisui's one of the few whom I think really wants to look after her. Itachi's always around as well, and we both know how he is around Naruto and Sasuke. She'd… She'd have such a good life, but…"

"But?"

"But I'm not allowed to have any contact with her," Ryuuma finished as a few tears began to finally well up in the corners of her eyes. "I love my little girl more than anything, but I want to be there for her! I want to be the mom that I never had! I want to see her grow up and become a great woman! I don't want to miss a second of her life! I want to meet her first boyfriend and help her when she gets her heart broken! I just…" she tried as a few tears finally fell. "I just don't want to lose her," she said in a depressed tone. "I love her _so_ much that it _hurts_, Minato. I don't know if I could live if I can't be a part of her life anymore."

As the green-eyed mother buried her face in her hands and began to silently sob, Minato felt his heart ache for the woman. Even though Ryuuma still resented the Uchiha for exiling her, they were a part of her and – through her – her daughter, no matter how much she tried to not think about it.

The blonde Hokage had grown to know the weeping young woman before him almost as well as she did herself over the last four years, and he could always see the regret hidden behind those emerald orbs. Regret for costing both her and her father their home. Regret for not being able to give her daughter the life she deserved. It was depressing, to see the regret finally bubble over to the surface.

However, she'd come to him for advice. Seeing as how she hadn't actually asked him for what – even though he already knew – he prompted her, "What do you want me to do, Ryuuma?"

"I…" she sobbed. "I don't know what to do, Minato. I want to be a part of my daughter's life, but she _deserves_ so much better than I can give her. She… She deserves better than me.

"I'm a cast-out, a No-Name," she reiterated in a whisper. "Right now, she doesn't know what that means, but she will someday. It means we have no family, no inheritance, and no respect from our peers. We have no one other than ourselves to rely on, and it drove my father to suicide! The thought of that fate for my little girl gives me chills!

"I… I need your help, Minato," the young mother begged him. "I'm at a loss of what to do. You're the Hokage, so you have to face decisions even worse than this, right?" At his stony nod, she continued, "Then please, _please_ tell me what I should do, because I don't know!"

"Look," he tried to tell her, "I don't think I should –"

"Please," she begged him, streaks falling down her cheeks and dripping from her chin.

Minato stared at the desperate woman in front of him before eventually sighing in resignation. "Ryuuma," he began, his voice unwavering. "I can't tell you what to do or not because I don't know if there's a right answer to your dilemma.

"However," he added as he saw her green eyes drop, "I can offer you this: What is better for your child? You need to ask yourself this question. Would it be better if you allowed it or not? I can't see the future, and I'm not perfect, so I don't know the answers to these questions. I can't tell you what to do, Ryuuma, as this is _your_ decision, and _yours_ alone. It's up to _you_, not me."

Ryuuma sat there in his office's guest chair, silent except from a few quiet sobs every now and again. This was one of the hardest parts of being Hokage: giving hard advice even when you don't know all of the answers yourself.

The room was silent before Minato offered the crying woman, "Why don't you take the next week off and spend it with your daughter?" He smiled at her affectionately as he told her, "You've worked for me for four straight years, Ryuuma. I think you've earned a vacation from everything for a bit."

"Thank you," she choked. Ryuuma then stood up from her chair and trudged towards his door. Before she opened the door, she called back as her voice cracked, "Minato?"

"Yes, Ryuuma?"

"After the week is up, do you mind if I stay on vacation for a bit longer?" she requested.

Not seeing a problem with it, he answered, "Of course. How long?"

She wiped her eyes with her wrist before telling him, "I don't know."

* * *

"Will you be attending Hyuuga-sama's party for his daughter's birthday, Hokage-sama?" his new secretary asked as he walked out of his office.

"No, I won't," the Yondaime Hokage answered her politely. "The Kumogakure Representative should be arriving soon, and I need to meet him at the gates."

"Very well, Hokage-sama," the blonde woman nodded as she accepted his decision.

"Before you flash out of here," the voice of Mikoto Uchiha came from the hall, "can I have a word, Minato?"

The blonde man turned and noticed the raven-haired woman walking down the hallway with a blonde-headed toddler holding her hand. Naruto was dressed in an orange shirt with the Konoha swirl pattern in the middle, blue shorts, and a pair of white shoes. The Uchiha matriarch was dressed in a formal, blue kimono that had the Uchiha Fan embroidered over her left breast and a larger design of the Fan in the center of her back with a black sash wrapped around her waist holding the outfit together.

The Namikaze man smiled at the pair as he said, "Of course, Mikoto." He then looked at his son and asked, "Well, am I going to get a hug or not?" He opened his arms.

Naruto flashed across the room and the father picked his child up as the smaller blonde wrapped his deceptively strong arms around his neck. "Papa! Where you have been?"

Minato smiled at his over-active child and told him, "Papa's been at work. I still have more to do, but it can wait a minute. So where're you going?"

"'Kaa-san's taking me to Hinata-chan's birthday!" the young blue-eyed boy answered excitedly.

"What about Sasuke?" Minato asked his son.

"He daddy said he not go with 'Kaa-san," Naruto answered sadly.

"I see," the blonde father said slowly. He looked over his child's spiky locks and noticed Mikoto looking at them with an affectionate smile on her face. "How're you doing, Mikoto?"

"Good," she answered him as he put his son down, much to Naruto's whining dismay. "It's as Naruto-kun says: I'm taking him to Hyuuga-san's celebration."

"And Sasuke?"

"'Big-Old Meany' didn't want him to go," Mikoto informed him, eliciting a few giggles from the woman at Naruto's name for her husband and a grin from Minato.

"So what is it you wanted to ask – put those down Naruto!" he scolded the curious toddler as the small blonde picked up one of the Hiraishin kunai. The blue-eyed child sheepishly grinned at his father before putting the weapon back where he'd found it and continuing to explore the Hokage's office.

Mikoto chuckled briefly before turning serious and saying, "You do know that –"

"Yes," he interjected sternly, knowing how sensitive such information was. "I am well-aware of the situation, rest-assured. I have already taken precautions in case sensei's theory proves correct, and I intend on taking even more once Kumo's Head Ninja arrives."

A brief silent spell descended upon the pair of parents, but it was more of a comfortable silence than an awkward one – like they'd shared many times in the last few years. They watched Naruto fly around the room and 'ooh' and 'ah' at all of the memorabilia present in the office. The child showed a cute pout when he couldn't find the Hokage's 'funny hat' – Minato had been forced to hide it whenever he wasn't going to be in his office in order to keep Naruto from running around Konoha with it like he did two months ago. Jiraiya and Kakashi had been in stitches as they saw the Yellow Flash be out-wit by a three-year-old in the Chase around Konoha.

"How are you," Minato finally asked with genuine concern noticeable in his voice.

"I'm fine," she reassured him again. "After Fugaku's stunt a month ago things have been tough, but not unbearable."

"That's a relief," the blonde father let out a breath. "I was worried that…"

"The children don't know," the Uchiha woman told him. "Naruto and Sasuke have no idea about mine and Fugaku's issues. I'm fairly sure that Itachi suspects, but he's not that concerned really. With his duties as an older brother to Naruto and Sasuke, training for the Academy, and his dates with Ayame-chan, Itachi is rarely home anyways."

"How's _she_ holding up?" Minato queried.

"She resents her mother," the black-haired mother revealed with a resigned sigh. "But I guess that's to be expected, considering the circumstances. Shisui's beginning to be seen as an older brother-figure, and Kagome is doing everything she can to be a good mother. She's starting to see them as her family now."

"That's good," Minato said. "I was starting to worry."

"I have been as well," Mikoto told him. "I never suspected Ryuuma would leave, though."

"I figured she would," the Hokage revealed, leading to Mikoto whirling around and giving him a shocked look. "You didn't see her a month ago in my office, Mikoto. She was absolutely _distraught_ at the thought of no longer being a part of her daughter's life. To be honest, she came to me asking for advice, and I really think I let her down. I'm not perfect, and she came to me _hoping_ I could give her the right answer, but I just couldn't find one. I told her as much, and I'm pretty certain that's when she decided to leave once she went through with it."

"But still," the present mother began before trailing off, "to just…"

"It hurt Ryuuma more than her daughter," Minato told her. "Of that, I'm certain."

"I don't doubt that, Minato," Mikoto agreed with him softly. "I'm a mother myself, in case you forgot. I can't imagine the kind of pain Ryuuma's in, and will most likely stay in for a long time."

"I really hope she won't have to remain that way," the blonde man whispered.

"If my plan works, then she won't," the Uchiha matriarch revealed with sharp eyes. "The Elders won't be around forever, and their agreement only lasts as long as they're around to know it."

Minato's eyes widened in realization as he figured out what his wife's best friend was saying. "You mean –"

"Yes," she answered his unfinished question as she interrupted him. "Only Ryuuma, me, and the Elders know of her condition. The Clan believes that she abandoned her child and Kagome took her in. Not even Fugaku knows that that's a lie."

"So when the old ones bite the dust…" Minato trailed off.

"Mother and daughter may be reunited," the Uchiha woman finished for him.

The blue-eyed Kage let out a low whistle in appreciation. "That's got to be one of the best shows of cunning I've ever seen you have, Mikoto. It's gonna work, don't worry. Ryuuma promised me that she wouldn't go the same path her father did and that she'd come back eventually. I told her I'd send her a message when her little girl made it into the Chuunin Exam Finals, so she'd be able to see the child she can't be with at the moment."

The corner of the raven-haired woman's mouth twitched upwards as she heard that. "I'm glad," she said to him. "I was worried that Ryuuma wouldn't be able to live with herself after everything. She's stronger than I, I'm certain," Mikoto finished with a noticeable hint of admiration present in her voice.

"'Kaa-san!" Naruto wailed in impatience. "You said 'few minutes.' We gonna be late!"

"He's right, you know?" the older blonde grinned at her.

"Yeah," she agreed hesitantly for some reason. "Thank you, Minato," the Uchiha beauty smiled at him affectionately. She then grabbed Naruto's hand and said, "Let's go, Naruto-chan. Hinata-chan's party is about to start."

"I just –"

"Move it," the black-haired mother instructed sternly. "I won't have us be late because you wanted to see your father."

Naruto pouted and grumbled on how 'he just said that and it was 'Kaa-san's idea in the first place to go see Papa.'

Minato's cerulean eyes blinked as he heard that from his son. _It was Mikoto's idea?_ he silently wondered. The blonde man watched as his son and his child's surrogate mother walked down the hallway as he thought on that last smile that she'd offered him. _It almost –_

His thoughts were interrupted as he felt a pulling sensation in his mind. The gate-guards must've noticed the Kumo party's approach and had thrown the kunai he'd given them.

_I can think about that later, if I want to,_ he silently added after reminding himself.

The Yellow Flash then activated his Hiraishin and appeared in front of the Konoha Gates. A moment after, the Kumo representative appeared right in front of him.

"Hokage-sama," the Kumo Jounin greeted respectfully. "I am Nezumi Inazuma, Head Ninja of Kumogakure and the elective chosen to sign the treaty in Raikage-sama's stead."

"Nice to meet you, Inazuma-san," the Yondaime Hokage greeted. _The 'Lightning Rat,' huh?_ Minato thought on the man.

The man before the Hokage was dressed in traditional Kumo Jounin apparel: A dark, sleeveless shirt underneath the white one-strap-over-one-shoulder Kumo flak jacket, loose-fitting dark-blue cargo pants, black boots, and his hitae-ate over his forehead. Nezumi Inazuma had brown hair that was cut short and had a single bang partially covering his left eye, and a tattoo that resembled a bolt of blue lightning that traveled the entire length of his right arm.

Minato extended his hand in front of him and said, "Welcome to Konoha, Inazuma-san."

The Kumo Representative took his offered hand and said, "I'm happy to be here. Now let's take care of business."

"I agree," the Yellow Flash told the Kumo man with a nod as they released each other's hands. Minato noticed the other man's eyes briefly flicker to his palm and he mentally smirked. _Just as I thought._

* * *

"Have you seen Inazuma-san, Hokage-sama?" Homura asked him.

"No, I haven't," the Hokage answered the advisor. "Have you checked the inn he's staying at for the night?"

The aging former shinobi shook his head. "We looked there –"

"Hokage-sama," an ANBU interrupted as he flashed into the Hokage's office. "It is as you suspected," the masked man reported.

"I'd hoped it wasn't," Minato sighed sadly. "Very well then. Has Hyuuga-san noticed yet?"

"No," the ANBU shook his head. "It is good you took precautions for this."

"Indeed," the blonde Kage told his ANBU. "Have two squads head north-northeast immediately. That's the direction he's fleeing."

"Hai, Hogake-sama!" the shinobi acknowledged his orders. The ANBU then disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

Minato stood from his desk as he thought, _I'm glad Mikoto agreed to stay with Naruto over-night while I handle this._ "I'm afraid we're going to have to call this impromptu meeting short," he told the three others present in his office.

"May I ask why?" Koharu piped up.

The blonde Hokage noticed how Danzo was staying silent. _He must already know, or at the very least suspect,_ the Yellow Flash figured. "Because Inazuma-san is no longer in Konoha," he revealed to the former disciples of the Nidaime.

"Why?" the lone woman asked.

"It would be unwise for him if he remained within the home of the young girl he's kidnapped," Minato informed them, causing a pair of small gasps from Hiruzen's old teammates.

Danzo gave a small, respectful nod to the Hokage for already suspecting treachery before he asked, "And you already knew this?"

Minato shrugged before revealing to them, "It wasn't hard to guess they might attempt it. The Hyuuga Compound is not very secure, as they heavily rely on their Byakugan to alert them of any intruders. However, they don't realize that their eyes have a countermeasure, and a skilled-enough shinobi – like Inazuma-san is – could get by their security. I have a few suspicions on this event, but I won't know for certain until I confront Inazuma about them.

"So, I'm off to save the day," he finished with a mock salute before activating his Hiraishin and teleporting away from his office.

Nezumi Inazuma only saw a brief flash of yellow before the Hyuuga heiress disappeared from his arms. The Kumo Jounin immediately halted his speedy retreat as he landed atop a fairly large plateau with half of it hidden in shadow due to the clouds in the night sky.

"So," the brown-haired man began, "you are better than I was led to believe, Konoha's Yellow Flash." His arms crossed in front of him as the Kumo Head Ninja blocked a kick aimed at his midsection before the cause of the blow disappeared from sight again. "I'd thought that I'd make it closer to the mountains before being discovered, but this is fine for me."

"You're not as smart as you seem to be," Minato taunted as the clouds in the sky moved and the shadows disappeared from around him on the opposite edge of the plateau, Hinata Hyuuga's unconscious form tucked under his arm. "Kidnapping someone my son believes is a friend only proves to me that you're not here under A-dono's orders."

The Kumo man's eyes narrowed in the moonlight at him as the Jounin demanded, "How do you know that?"

"Because in the few times I've battled him," the Hokage answered with a frigid look in his eyes, "the last thing A-dono has proven to be is a fool. He is well-aware of my abilities, and he would've known such a mission would be a drastic failure." Those sharp cerulean eyes noticed a slight twitch on the other man's face. "Ah," he realized. "It seems I've said the same thing A-dono told you, haven't I?"

"Be silent you Konoha scum!" Nezumi barked. "You're not as dangerous as people claim you to be, and I will prove it!" A kunai appeared in the Kumo man's hand as he extended his arm and pointed the kunai at the blonde man. "The only technique you have is your Hiraishin, but it has a glaring weakness: You need to have a formula marker in order to teleport." He gestured all around him with his arms wide as he continued, "Here, you have no markers or any of your special kunai set up beforehand.

"It seems, though, that the Hyuuga girl has a seal on her," the Kumo ninja continued. "So you used that one in order to find me. However, you made one, big mistake: You didn't kill me when you had the chance! The only seal around, and you forego using the small element of surprise you possessed to save the Hyuuga, but you didn't kill me!"

"I see you've researched the Hiraishin fairly well," the Yellow Flash noticed evenly. "However," he added icily, "I did not become Hokage because of a single technique."

Minato flashed away from the battlefield and placed the young Hyuuga girl's unconscious form against the trunk of a tree near the base of the plateau. He then flashed back atop the flat rock and glared at the Kumo nin.

"Your legend is inflated," Nezumi told him mockingly. "You're a fool, just like your predecessor. We are shinobi; we have no friends or allies, only our village. I would die for my home, and I would do anything to increase Kumo's strength, regardless of what Raikage-sama believes!" he exclaimed as he brandished another kunai in his other hand and charged.

Minato's eyes sharpened as he pulled one of his personal kunai out and threw it at the Kumo man. As the Head Ninja of Kumogakure deflected the tri-pronged kunai with one of his own, the Yellow Flash activated the Hiraishin and teleported in front of his opponent.

The blonde shinobi grabbed his kunai with his left hand as he spun in the air. He extended his right leg and directed a kick to the other man's left temple.

The Jounin was able to raise his arm in defense and the blonde Kage's shin collided with the Kumo man's forearm. A loud boom exploded from the force of the kick before his enemy's arm and legs shook under the force of the impact.

The blonde flicked his wrist and tossed the same Hiraishin kunai at the brown-haired man's head. The Kumo ninja was undeterred, however, as he quickly deflected the tri-pronged kunai away from him with his free hand before quickly disengaging and jumping a good distance away from the blonde Kage.

Nezumi shook his left arm before complimenting his foe, "It appears you are quite powerful in your own right. I seem to have underestimated you."

Minato's cold gaze remained on his opponent, but he didn't deign to respond to the subtle taunt with words. Instead, he pulled out a single shuriken and gripped it in-between his left hand's forefinger and thumb. The Hokage threw the lone shuriken before calling out one of the Sandaime's signature jutsu, "Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone)."

Nezumi's eyes widened in shock as the single shuriken became hundreds right before his very eyes. The Kumo Jounin began frantically deflecting as many shuriken as possible. However, as he knew it would be an impossibility to deflect away every one of the shuriken coming at him, he focused on the many projectiles which would've collided with a potentially-fatal organ.

The Hokage's opponent's movements were a blur as his hands speedily deflected as many of the seemingly-endless supply as he could. The ones which he couldn't deflect sliced into his arms, legs, face, and one even pierced his defenses and jammed itself into his left quadricep. Nezumi's leg faltered and forced him to his knee, but he continued to deflect as many shuriken as possible.

Finally, after nearly a full minute of a continual hail of shuriken, Nezumi's arms stopped moving after all of the projectiles made it by him or were deflected away. Blood trailed down each of his arms and dripped off of his fingertips as he stood from his knee. The Kumo man winced as he pulled the shuriken from his thigh and Minato watched on, unflinching as blood spurted from the darkened splotch of his enemy's pants. Thin lines of red liquid dripped down Nezumi's facial cheeks and continued to fall down his neck. None of the wounds were fatal individually, but at the rate the Kumo nin was losing blood, Minato estimated that he'd last five minutes before passing out from blood-loss without treatment.

"Well," Nezumi began as he gasped for air. "I guess I'll have to get serious now, won't I?" The Kumo Jounin then whispered, "Raiton no Yoroi (Lightning Armor)."

Minato continued to watch impassively as the Kumo Head Ninja employed the technique that the current and former Raikage were known for. A visible concentration of lightning chakra coated the Jounin's body as a few bolts of lightning crackled around the jutsu's castor. The Lightning Armor's intensity seemed to charge the very air around the pair of duelers.

"Now then," Nezumi smirked at the blonde Kage ferally. "Let's begin Round Two, shall we?"

The two opponents disappeared from sight as each moved at speeds the naked eyes couldn't follow. The sounds of their collisions echoed louder than thunderclaps each time the pair collided and became visible for a brief instant before separating and repeating the process again.

As they both continued on with their battle, Minato's facial features remained cold, neutral, and impassive. Every time he and the Kumo shinobi collided, his face remained stoic and seemingly disinterested. This was noticed by his opponent, and it only served to grow to frustrate Nezumi Inazuma even further, as he couldn't land a single blow on the Hokage, even with the Raikage's signature technique.

"What are you!?" Nezumi howled in anger at not being able to hit the Yellow Flash even once. The Lightning Armor crackled around him as he charged and screamed, "This Raiton no Yoroi was taught to me by Raikage-sama himself! No one is faster than Raikage-sama when he uses this!"

"You need to get out more," Minato told him, seemingly disinterested in the battle, as he dodged another charge by the Kumo man. He then sent another kunai at his opponent and waited.

Nezumi sneered at him, "I won't fall for the same trick twice." He disappeared from sight at speeds which left a loud sonic-boom behind before the kunai could even reach him.

The Kumo Jounin appeared directly behind Minato and aimed a fist at the blonde's skull. Minato fell backwards, underneath the chakra-enhanced fist, and countered it with him falling into his hands on the ground and pushing both of his feet into the Kumo Head Ninja's chest. Nezumi was forced into the sky as Minato then flicked another Hiraishin kunai at his enemy's face.

Nezumi tilted his head to the side and allowed the special kunai to pass by him unhindered. He then turned as the Yellow Flash teleported directly to the last-thrown kunai and blocked the Hokage's punch to his gut. Even though he prevented the blow from connecting, the force of Minato's fist transformed his upwards momentum downwards and doubled it.

The brown-haired Jounin's body fell from the sky so fast that the air whistled as he dropped. As Nezumi collided with the plateau, a tremendous explosion boomed and a gigantic cloud of dust covered the entire top of the rocky surface.

Minato slowly fell from the air and his Yondaime Hokage cloak flapped around him. His cerulean eyes watched the cloud of dust slowly get blown away by the night's wind as he continued to descend. As the dust-cloud was blown away, it revealed that Nezumi's collision with the ground had created a crater atop the plateau around fifteen meters in diameter and two meters deep at its center. However, Nezumi's body was absent.

The Yellow Flash felt the air around him shift as it was charged with electricity. He tucked into a ball as a Lightning Armor-coated fist from his opponent passed through the air where his head had just been. The blonde man spun once before extending his legs and driving both heels into Nezumi's stomach. The blow sent his enemy soaring to the ground and sliding across the rocky surface of the plateau.

As Minato calmly landed back atop the plateau, Nezumi's armor briefly flickered before the Kumo shinobi was able to get to his knee, gasping for breath. The Jounin vomited blood before wiping the residual hemoglobin from his mouth. He then shakily stood as he wavered and asked, "You… What _are_ you?"

"Hokage," Minato stated icily. "And Konoha's Yellow Flash," he reminded Nezumi before disappearing in a flash of yellow once more.

Nezumi's eyes widened as he realized that he'd been standing next to one of the Hiraishin Kunai that Minato had thrown during the course of their battle. As Minato teleported right in front of him, the Kumo man forced all of his chakra into his legs and jumped as far away from the blonde Kage as possible.

Minato showed his first facial expression of the battle as he smirked victoriously. "Check–" he flashed directly behind his rapidly retreating foe, "-mate." The Yellow flash formed a Rasengan in his right hand and immediately drilled it into Nezumi's back.

The Yondaime Hokage's personal creation connected with the Yondaime Raikage's signature armor and the two techniques were in a brief stalemate. After a few seconds, all of which were spent by Minato fueling his Rasengan even more, the spiraling orb of chakra managed to shatter the Lightning armor and buried itself into Nezumi's back.

The Kumo Jounin let out a pained howl as the sphere of chakra continued to push itself further and further into his spine. Minato forced his foe into the ground, but refused to relent on his assault with the Rasengan. The ground around them was upturned and kicked up a cloud of dust around them.

Eventually, Minato allowed his jutsu to fade, believing his opponent had been completely defeated now. _I'm fairly certain that his spine is destroyed,_ Minato analyzed the damage. _He won't be doing anything now._

As Minato stood up again, four ANBU flashed onto the plateau and each bowed to him as they greeted him, "Hokage-sama!"

Shishi then stood and reported, "Hyuuga-san is in custody of Taka and his team. They are returning to Konoha as we speak."

The Hokage nodded and said to his subordinates, "Excellent work. Send for Inoichi, and tell him to prepare Chamber One for Inazuma-san here."

Shishi accepted her orders and then her and her squad all disappeared in simultaneous swirls of leaves.

"H-How?" Nezumi managed a strangled rasp.

"How what?" the Hokage returned.

"How did you defeat me?" the Kumo ninja requested.

"Just as how you've researched me, I've done the same to you," Minato answered the downed man. "Nezumi Inazuma: The Lightning Rat of Kumogakure, A-Ranked shinobi and Head Ninja of Kumogakure, former student of A-dono, specialties: Raiton jutsu, assassination, and infiltration."

"How… How do you know all this?"

"I know many things," he answered his defeated foe. "I know where Killer Bee resides and how he is able to fully transform into his Biju while maintaining complete control while in that form. I am aware of A-dono's relationship with the Jinchuuriki of the Hachibi. I also know about an eleven year-old blonde girl who's currently a disciple of Killer Bee." Nezumi's eyes widened as he realized what Minato was revealing to him. "Yes," he confirmed for the brown-haired man, "I know many of your village's secrets.

"You asked how it was I defeated you, and I guess there's no harm in telling you now," Minato declared to him. "You see, I was well-aware of your Armor's strengths, as I've fought A-dono before, and it is a dangerous ability. It drastically increases the user's strength, speed, reaction time, and defense. I wasn't worried about the first three, but the last aspect was quite worrisome.

"The Lightning Armor's defensive capabilities are nearly impenetrable so long as the user isn't suffering from fatigue or their chakra levels are steadily decreasing. Knowing that you'd eventually employ your Kage's technique, I marked you near the beginning of our battle.

"Didn't know I could create the formula seal without my hands, did you?" Minato grinned at the shocked man. "From then on all I needed to do was get you to activate the Armor and continually force you to pump more and more chakra into the Lightning Armor while forcing you on the defensive and increasing your fatigue. All I had to do then was get you to believe the attack was coming from a different direction than it really was, forcing you to redirect more chakra towards the feint, and pierce your armor at its weakest point."

"Heh," Nezumi chuckled humorlessly. "I guess Raikage-sama was right after all. This mission would only result in my death if I decided to go along with it. I should have followed his advice and told the Council to piss off, like he did."

"The Council?" Minato hadn't known that Kumo even had one.

"All glory to Kumo," Nezumi declared weakly before he bit down on the suicide capsule he'd hidden in one of his molars.

* * *

"So," Jiraiya drawled as the Sannin and his former apprentice waited near the border between Shimo no Kuni (Land of Frost) and Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Water) for the Raikage's party to arrive. "Why are we here again? I mean, I get how you need to make an 'official' apology to the Raikage for the Head Ninja's death, but you didn't explain anything else when you flashed in the other day."

Minato sighed before telling his old sensei, "Kumo's demands were strange, sensei. Apparently, Inazuma-san's tenketsu points were all closed for some reason after he died, even though he never did battle with a Hyuuga. I'm meeting with A-dono because I believe I've come up with a way war can be averted while simultaneously arranging an eventual alliance between our villages one day."

"And…"

"I'll tell you if he goes for it," the blonde informed the older man. "It's a risky gamble, but one I'm willing to take, and I'm pretty sure that A-dono will as well. If he does agree to it, then we'll have taken the first step."

"First step towards…" Jiraiya prompted him to elaborate.

"Peace," the Hokage answered strongly. "We already have an alliance with Suna, but both of us will be recovering from the last war for the better part of another decade. Kirigakure is a situation I don't plan on getting involved with unless someone seeks out our assistance, as it would be too risky to send one of our own shinobi into the middle of that civil war, so they're not really in a state to discuss diplomatic relations at the moment. After Kannabi, Iwa will never speak to me unless it's to declare another war on us. So the best step towards making war a thing of the past is to attempt to, at least, make relations with Kumo amicable."

The white-haired Toad Sage nodded as his former student told him all of that. "So, you're going to give them what they want, but not _how_ they want it?"

_Still as sharp as ever, sensei,_ the blonde thought. He smirked as he told the Sannin, "Yes. And the only ones who'll know will be me, you – if it works, A-dono, and whoever A-dono trusts. Ah," he noticed a party of three people appear at the edge of his vision. "It would seem A-dono is at the very least curious. Would you?"

"Yeah, yeah," the Sannin waved his hand dismissively. He then said, "I'm on it. I'll go collect the 'demands' for you." Jiraiya then disappeared from Minato's side.

Minato then pulled out a small, yellow pill from his coat and observed it intently. _To think,_ he thought to himself, _that you're the reason for this debacle. I'd have never thought that Kumo had such a pill. The ability to fake your death by closing your tenketsu is quite bothersome for Konoha as a whole._ He then placed the suicide pill back into his coat and watched the approaching forms.

As the three human-shaped forms came closer, Minato became able to make out their identities. The Raikage, A, walked in front of his two escorts with his Kage hat on over his head. The other two, while he hadn't met either of them personally before, the Yondaime Hokage recognized them from their Bingo Book pictures. The blonde that traveled with A was a B-Ranked medic-nin named C. The other person traveling with the Raikage was a young, white-haired, dark-skinned man whose name Minato remembered was Darui – an A-Ranked Jounin known as Kumo's Black Lightning and the Raikage's Right Hand.

The envoy stopped around one-hundred meters from where Minato stood. A then turned to his two escorts and spoke to them. C seemed put-off by whatever he was told, but Darui just shrugged in acceptance of A's orders. The Raikage nodded to the pair following him before turning back towards his fellow Kage and advancing while his party remained where they stood.

_Good_,he thought as A approached. _This way I don't have to request him to leave his escort for us to discuss everything in secret._ The Hokage then – in order to be absolutely certain there was going to be no eavesdroppers on this conversation – used his own sensory abilities to search for any unseen listeners, and his search located no chakra signatures but the ones he already knew of. "Raikage-dono," he then greeted respectfully as A came within hearing distance, "it is good to meet you away from the battlefield."

"Indeed, Hokage-dono," A agreed, just as respectfully. "Now what, may I ask, is the reason you've requested this clandestine meeting between we Kage. The village believes me to be off training with Bee and his newest disciple."

"Ah," Minato revealed. "I am in a similar situation myself, Raikage-dono. I requested our meeting be in secret because I have a few certain matters I wish to discuss with you; from Kage to Kage."

"Speak then, as I don't have all day."

_Still sour from losing, huh?_ the blue-eyed man noticed. _Oh well._ "Firstly, I am aware that you did not order the attempt on the Hyuuga girl, A-dono. Inazuma-san told me so himself," he continued to explain while A's expression remained stoic, "and it would seem that we both have to deal with a similar issue within our respective homes."

"And just what might that be?" A asked him gruffly.

"A Council that believes they hold more power than they truly possess," the Hokage revealed, and he noticed a slight twinkle appear in A's eyes as he presented their shared issue. "It would seem that both of us must face down power-drunken fools who think they are stronger than we Kage and that they are able to do anything behind our backs and get away with it."

The corner of the Raikage's mouth twitched upwards. "So it would seem," he agreed vaguely.

"I have an idea which will put our problems back in their rightful place, if you'd hear me out."

"I hope this is good," A nodded for him to explain his idea.

"Oh, it will be," Minato promised him. "Initially, I intended on telling you to stuff your demands and tell you flat-out that I was the one who defeated Inazuma-san, but another idea came to me after a little thinking, and it sets up quite the stage for the future as long as we both hold true to it."

"Oh?" A's eyebrow arched in curiosity. "What might be able to do what you've just stated? Not many ideas come to mind."

The fuuinjutsu master then pulled out a scroll from his coat pocket and tossed it to the Raikage. As A caught it with one of his burly hands, Minato instructed, "Use that. Once you open it and see what it is, you should know what I'm suggesting. I don't care how you explain where you found it, but make sure you impress the possibilities on your Council for that."

A looked at him curiously before breaking the scrolls seal and unfurling it. A shocked gasp came from the Raikage as he realized just what Minato had given him. "Is this a st–"

"Yes," Minato interjected coolly. "It is exactly as you've guessed, A-dono. Am I right to assume you now know my plan?"

"You are," A declared as he re-rolled the scroll before sliding it into his pocket. "I'll be certain to send you an alert when they're getting close." He grinned as he finished with, "You are even more sly than I believed, Hokage-dono."

* * *

**A/N: **Well, now Minato has survived three years after the Kyuubi attack, and dealt with the Hyuuga incident. As I said earlier, things may not occur for the same reasons or in the same ways as canon, even if the event's dates line up. Also, before you ask, Nezumi Inazuma is dead, even if the wording may have been confusing.

I promised I'd cut down on my Author's Notes length, and I intend on keeping that one (the last chapter didn't count). So I'm just gonna leave you all with a 'Leave your questions in the reviews' for you. Updates should become regular for the next month or so, but that doesn't mean that they'll be happening as often as they did when I began this fic.

Also, to clarify for you all before you ask: Yes, the time spent with Minato as the protagonist is riddled with time skips. I can't show you all what is happening in-between the chapters for two reasons: One, most of it is fairly unimportant stuff that occurs in a remarkably similar fashion to canon, and Two, because if I did include everything like some Minato fics tried to do, then I'll have upwards of 25 chapters of just set-up, and that would just be boring. I can't show you everything, and what I do decide to include isn't meaningless either. And as a reminder: Once Naruto graduates to Genin, he will become the main protagonist that I'll follow. That means that there won't be much Minato during Naruto's time as the protagonist, so enjoy the insight into the Yondaime's mind while you've got it, as there won't be much afterwards.

Hope you enjoyed, and don't forget to check out my other fics if you like Sekirei or Code Geass. Sekirei has just been updated, and Code Geass will be updated as a package deal for all of my readers next week.

So long, and I'll see you next update.


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